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kyouka-supremacy · 10 months

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Yeah I was shocked at first too how little Atsushi seemed to care about Aku's death and was outright offended on Aku's behalf but now that I'm rereading I can't describe Atsushi post-88 as anything other than "numb" or going through the motions and it get really blatant when you see how animated he got during the most recent chapters

Mmmmhh. I think those two Atsushi pages are extremely interesting, and that we need to talk about them some more. Overall, Anon, I relate to your experience: I too thought Atsushi's reaction to Akutagawa's death was rather indifferent at first, and I too eventually warmed up to it explaining it as loss rather than apathy, a difficulty to process what had happened just yet. But the thing is, before chapter 107 came out, I truly felt like both interpretations - the indifferent one and the numb one - were equally sustained by canon elements and potentially true. I do think that the “indifference” interpretation had canon grounds of its own right and, although it's close to be disproven by the latest chapters, I want to elaborate on that, because I think it's still valuable to reflect over it.

It's reasonable to think Atsushi's reaction was so cold and detached because a lot had just happened for him way beyond what any man could elaborate in the immediate; at that point it still didn't come natural for him to think of Akutagawa as anything but evil, and, even though Akutagawa had just proven in action to be more than a ruthless monster, for Atsushi months of thinking of Akutagawa as the devil incarnate isn't something he could grow out of in a matter of minutes or hours, especially given he still hadn't had the chance to properly elaborate what happened. And yet even when considering all of that, it's still true that Atsushi never asks Ango "why did Akutagawa sacrifice himself?" or "why did Akutagawa die for me?"; he only wonders if there's "some grand meaning to it". He doesn't seem to be pondering over Akutagawa's sacrifice in particular as something extraordinary, but rather reflects about the entire string of events as equally important factors. I find it insane that Atsushi is thinking about the event of Akutagawa keeping his promise over the very occurrence of Akutagawa giving his life to save him, and how even that instance of remembering something good Akutagawa did feels to be only prompted by acknowledging how that allowed him to escape, for the ada to keep fighting– even when thinking about Akutagawa, it seems to be for inherently selfish reasons. It all speaks, to me, like in that moment Atsushi saw Akutagawa like just a piece in the grand scheme of things and nothing more, which is coherent with the dehumanizing perception of Akutagawa he always held; and that's why it made me believe that nothing much really changed even after Akutagawa died for him, because apparently nothing would have been able to scratch Atsushi's quick-to-judgement, close minded attitude.

Then again, this was my main interpretation up to chapter 88 and no further, and back then I probably shouldn't have given that much relevance to Atsushi's words since in that moment he was understandably shaken and unstable. Besides, obviously, chapters 107 and 108, Atsushi hallucinating Akutagawa in chapter 105 is a meaningful element too: the way Akutagawa seems to be guiding him, how Atsushi doesn't seem to hold any fear or hatred or resentment towards him anymore, the way Atsushi places him on top of importance falling second only to Dazai. And it's true that chapter 107's "I know you're still there" and "you still haven't told me why did you save me" are telling enough on their own: of the fact that Atsushi really had a change of heart about Akutagawa, of the fact that he's changed his mind on him. And after all who am I to disagree, I don't wish for anything other than celebrating sskk canon 2k23 ahah!

But the thing is: in the end, to me, it really doesn't matter if that chapter 88 scene specifically is meant to be interpreted Atsushi caring for Akutagawa or not!! What I mean to say is that unrequited-sskk is still a very compelling dynamic and noteworthy concept, and it having canon basis or not is ultimately completely irrelevant.

I've been called out a lot for my unrequited-sskk takes and received a couple of asks and replies already on this, so I really wanted to clarify why I'd stand by that in the first place, and elaborate on why in my opinion that Atsushi scene from chapter 88 really fits the picture. Truth to be told, unrequited-sskk was mostly a June 2022 phase that manifested slowly in later months due to my late posting habit, but I don't feel for it any strongly than requited sskk– I mean, I obviously love sskk, of course I'm also rooting for them to be happy together. But I do think unrequited sskk holds a lot of thematic value, and that's why I think it's very interesting concept to reflect over! More specifically, I think it's very fitting with Akutagawa's character themes of being perfectly unlovable, the miserable and tragic character. This context ties with and reinforces the image of Akutagawa as the cursed character, someone who can only fall for people who are destined to hate him; and the people he loves won't ever be able to see in him anything but a monster, because he is fated to cause repulsion in anyone he meets. Additionally, seeing the character under this light makes his death even more dramatic and heartbreaking: there's some added pain in the knowledge that he's dying for someone he loves, and who is never going to love him back or even see him as human for what matters, and yet Akutagawa deciding to do so anyways. I feel like Akutagawa as the ultimate tragic character, born miserable and died miserable, only ever running after glimpses of happiness without ever the chance to grasp them, forever unloved, forever in pain, is really compelling! Akutagawa doomed to be unloved in life and death, someone whose pain, whose sacrifice and humanity will never be recognized by anyone but the silent audience. It's just a very entertaining concept to explore!!

I also find the unrequited love scenario interesting on the other end, in the way it frames Atsushi, the good one, as fundamentally unable to be compassionate and forgiving with Akutagawa, making out of the good guy a complex and especially flawed person. I like how Atsushi and Akutagawa's roles of good and bad are switched in someone who's unforgiving (unsympathetic), and someone who's miserable (sympathetic). (That is far from wanting to villainize Atsushi– Akutagawa did a lot of unforgivable things to him. He just did a lot of redeemable things also.)

In the end my final take - which is something I've always thought - is that sskk's relationship, and its chance to bloom romantically or not, is mostly dictated by chance: in Beast, they've met in a friendly, non-hostile environment, and they suddenly clicked; but not in every universe they might be lucky. They have palpable chemistry, but it's not granted that will always translate in them getting along more than them clashing and destroying each other. And I guess that's what makes them so fun to fixate on!! How their relationship can take so many different shapes while staying the same. When people ask when sskk would get together, I really think it's only a matter of case. I think it's as likely for Akutagawa to kiss Atsushi on impulse after this arc has ended than it is for them to beat around the bush for years and years to no end. I think it's really a matter of chance that Akutagawa didn't kill Atsushi and join the Hunting Dogs, a split-second decision that could have easily gone another way. I find it cool how their relationship can take so many different shapes and yet the only thing that stays the same is how inexplicably tied they are, how the other makes them who they are, how deeply and intrinsically connected they are.

Tl;dr: Atsushi's reaction to Akutagawa's death, up to chapter 88 and without considering chapter 107 and further, has equal basis to be interpreted as Atsushi being indifferent (uncaring) of Akutagawa or detached (caring in disguise) of Akutagawa; here's what made of uncaring of Akutagawa an interesting scenario no matter the fact it turned out to be wrong; here's why, independently by how much canon basis it has, themes wise unrequited-sskk is still a very interesting concept that should be taken in consideration.

#Sorry this went in ten different directions there were just a lot of points I wanted to clear up once and for all #I'm terribly sorry if it's messy I hope it's at least intelligible ;;;;;;#atsushi nakajima #ryūnosuke akutagawa #sskk #bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd ch 88 #bsd ch 84-88 #bsd ch 107 #bsd ch 105 #bsd analysis #mine #people asks me stuff

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coppoladelrey · 1 year

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I posted 311 times in 2022

That's 233 more posts than 2021!

37 posts created (12%)

274 posts reblogged (88%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@slayhousehightower

@cuttingedgeinc

@catelynhightower

@alicentdeservesbetter

@ewansmitchells

I tagged 307 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#house of the dragon - 107 posts

#aemond targaryen - 78 posts

#alicent hightower - 54 posts

#asoiaf - 36 posts

#aegon ii targaryen - 34 posts

#aemond targaryen x reader - 20 posts

#lana del rey - 18 posts

#self reblog - 16 posts

#answered - 11 posts

#criston cole - 11 posts

Longest Tag: 65 characters

#grrm knew that the half targs were going to be too good at ruling

My Top Posts in 2022:

The Pretender - Masterlist

Summary: You are the spitting image of a Lady of the Reach, when she framed you for a crime you did not commit you become her and marry her betrothed, Prince Aemond Targaryen.

Chapter l

Chapter ll

Chapter lll

Chapter lV

Main Masterlist

370 notes - Posted October 30, 2022

Cherry

A/N: I took inspiration from Lana Del Rey’s song called Cherry, I hope you guys like it. The fic is a little out there, but I love AUs and I don’t think I’ve seen one of those around. (If you know any, send them my way. I’d love to read other AUs with our favourite momma’s boy.) Please let me know what you think, as I said it’s kinda out there, even if it’s to tell me that it’s sucked lol.

Summary: You were obsessed with your History Professor, what you didn’t know was that he was obsessed with you as well.

Professor!Aemond Targaryen x Reader (Modern AU)

Word Count: 5.3K

Warnings: smut, power imbalance (?), dub con (but not really?), unprotected sex (I mean it’s a fic, don’t do this IRL), a bit of angst and fluff, Minors DNI.

Tag List: @aemonds-war-crime.

Masterlist

His voice was angelic, nothing could distract you from him. Professor Aemond was your history professor, Roman history was his field. You didn't need to be here, you were in STEM but you love History so you took it as an elective. It was so wrong, but you were lusting after your History Professor. You remember clear as day the first day you saw him.

You were excited about your history lesson, Roman history fascinated you that’s why you were sitting on the first row you couldn’t wait for this. There was only you and another boy in the class, which was about to start in 20 minutes. You decided to begin to do your homework from one of your classes, it was easy enough, you’d never admit that to anyone else but you were one of the smartest people in the university.

People started coming in but you paid no mind, you were in the zone and your homework was almost finished. You didn't realize that the Professor just came through the door, your pen was in your mouth and your brows were furrowed in concentration. The Professor noticed you, wearing a short skirt, tights and a turtleneck, you looked delicious but Aemond had a reputation to uphold. He was in front of you now but you didn't notice it, everyone was now looking at you.

You heard laughter from the people that shared your class, you looked up and you saw who you assumed was the Professor, he was wearing all black and he had an eye patch and scar which made him look sexy. His face was as if it was carved by God himself, his hands were behind his back and his facial expression was stern, you quickly sat up straight and closed your laptop. He kept looking at you which you only could as contempt for a few more seconds and went back to his desk.

“I am Professor Aemond Targaryen, to simply put any potential rumours at rest,” He pointed at the eye patch. “This was an unfortunate hunting accident with my nephew Luke, and my eye could not be saved.” Aemond preferred to get the story out of the way because he knew how students can get curious. “Now let’s start the class.”

The class went smoothly after that, and you were sure that his voice was going to be ingrained in your mind, it was smooth and sultry. Professor Aemond looked at you every ten minutes, not enough to raise suspicions but enough to make you aware that you were being watched. Aemond was a great professor, he didn't like to brag but it was true.

It was almost time for the class to be finished, everyone was getting their belongings in their bags, including you. That’s when Aemond decided to speak.

“I must speak with you, Miss.” His voice was stern, it left no room for argument. Your classmates were snickering and feeling sorry for you, after everyone else left you went to his table.

“I do not appreciate that kind of dismissive behaviour in my class, miss?” You said your full name and Aemond appreciated the sound of your voice.

“I apologise, Professor. I was twenty minutes early, so I decided to finish one of my assignments but I’ll take this class very seriously.” Aemond simply hummed and dismissed you with his hand, you went back to your seat and he appreciated the sway of your hips, you hurried out of class.

You were roommates with a girl called Ellie, she was a sophomore while you were a junior. It was a bit unsettling how much she knew about everyone’s lives, it was as if she had eyes everywhere. If a professor had issues either with family, or drugs she knew about it. It wasn’t a surprise when you were back to your dorm, she already knew that you had a mishap with professor Aemond.

“What did you do? What did the professor hottie say?” To be completely honest you were surprised that she didn't know what the two of you talked about.

“I got in the zone and didn't see him come in, she got angry and wanted to talk to me.” Ellie knew how you could get when you were concentrated, she never met anyone as dedicated as you to your studies. You didn't drink, you didn't party, your parents were poor, and you were on a scholarship you couldn’t afford a mistake, unlike Ellie.

“Be careful next time, he has a reputation.” Her statement confused you.

“What reputation?”

“He doesn’t forgive mistakes, of any kind. If you mess up in his class you are out, I’m surprised that you’re still allowed.” Ellie was eyeing you suspiciously, she hasn’t known you that long so her opinion of you wasn’t formed yet.

“He didn't say that I could come back.” Now you were worried, even though you didn't need to take this class, you loved Roman History it’d be awful to be kicked out for an innocent mistake.

“HA! Trust me, he would make it clear that you were out of his class. People say that he loves making his students squirm and cry more than anything.” Ellie left you, she needed to go meet with her boyfriend.

You didn't get that impression from the professor, sure he was stern but he wasn’t mean to anyone. You decided to not let Ellie’s words taint professor Aemond in your mind, you were going to make your judgement of him. Looking at the clock you realised that you were late for your next class.

__________________________________________

Your next History class was the next week, and your mind was plagued with thoughts of your mysterious professor, his voice was in your dreams as well as himself.

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422 notes - Posted November 6, 2022

The Pretender - Chapter l

A/N: So Aemond inspired me to write again, hope you guys like it and please let me know if I should do more of this story. Feedback is greatly appreciated, even if it’s to say that it sucks LOL.

Summary: You are the spitting image of a Lady of the Reach, when she framed you for a crime you did not commit you become her and marry her betrothed, Prince Aemond Targaryen.

Aemond Targaryen x Reader

Word Count: 4.2k

Warnings: Violence, let me know if there’s anything else.

Tag List: @aemonds-war-crime

The Pretender Masterlist

Main Masterlist

Life at your grandparents’ farm wasn’t easy, but it was all you knew. Waking up before the sun, milking the cows, taking take of the sheep, making sure the crops were growing properly, cleaning the chicken coop, everything that your grandparents couldn’t do. There was one thing that you loved more than anything, and that was horses, your family didn't have the money for one, so you tried to find wild horses, they were fearless and dangerous but you were able taim most of them.

A horse that hasn’t left your side since you were only thirteen was a black horse, he was a beauty, he always found you, having a domestic side but always wild at heart. You named him Arrow, due to the fact that he’s so quick, always has been. Arrow always found his way back to you, and he loved you and you loved him, you didn't have enough money for a saddle, so you rode him bareback.

After your chores you went to find Arrow, it was a freeing feeling being able to ride on his back, being tired didn't matter, worrying about what to do after your grandparents die, being tired after a long day at the farm, none of that matters when you’re with Arrow.

You were whistling, looking for Arrow in a field the grass was tall the sun was almost setting and you saw him, he was eating. You approached him, and he looked at you, the bond was strong between the two of you.

“I’ve missed you, Arrow.” You put your head on his, and he neighed you’d like to think that he missed you as well. “Let’s ride.” You jumped on his back, you tried to care for him, brushing his hair but he always came back more wild than before.

You always let Arrow decide where to take you, he knew the Reach quite well and took you to so many different and exciting places. You held on tight to his hair and he went. You closed your eyes, and the wind on your face was incredible, sometimes you wished to be like Arrow, being attached to nowhere.

Arrow stopped by a river, and you came off of him and started drinking water off the river. The sun was setting so you started thinking about coming back home. You started touching Arrow, you wished that he would come home with you but you loved him too much to sentence him to such a cruel fate, he was free. You heard hustling from the trees, you decided to leave. But it was too late, a couple appeared from the forest.

The man had to be a knight, and the woman was wearing an incredible purple dress, she looked absolutely amazing. The man looked angry, drawing his sword.

“Who are you?” He screamed, his sword was pointed at you. Arrow was getting scared, but you were able to calm him down.

“My love, she’s simply a farmer girl. She has no idea who we are.” You were avoiding looking at them, you wanted no trouble with the noble people.

The Lady approached you, you took a step back. She did not like that, she grabbed your jaw rather forcefully. You looked at her, you couldn’t believe it she looked exactly like you and she had a surprised face, the same as you.

“By the gods, you look exactly like me. If you weren’t so dirty and a peasant, you could be a pretender.” The Lady finally released your jaw, it hurt so much. “Have you lost your voice, peasant?” She was rude, and you did not like her one bit.

“I do, you haven’t asked anything before, m’lady.” She hit you, hard. You knew there would a bruise tomorrow, why did she do this? You almost fell, but you got your footing before that.

“Do not talk back, peasant.” Her words held so much venom, you hated the royals so much. “I simply had the most extraordinary idea. I will go to Braavos with William and you shall marry the one-eyed monstrosity in Kings Landing.” The knight, William you assumed finally approached the two of you. Your face held nothing but confusion, you pretending to be her?

“That would never work, this peasant doesn’t know how to behave, how to read.” William held contempt for you, but his voice had a tinge of pity.

“It will work, we will teach her everything. She shall become a Lady of House Oxwell, she shall become me.” You knew that name, her family was the richest in all of Westeros, richer than the Lannisters, they say.

“No.” You simply stated, you didn't want to become her, you wanted to be truly free like Arrow, you wanted nothing in your name, you craved freedom, you craved being away from the farm, you craved peace, you craved the wind on your hair.

“No, how dare you…” William started drawing his sword again, but the Lady stopped him.

“Most peasants would kill for an opportunity such as this, why do you refuse? Being adorned with the finest jewellery, touching only the finest silk, eating only the best meats? What do you truly desire?” Her line of questioning was uncomfortable, she wanted you to say things that you never told anyone before, of the deepest desire within your soul.

“I wish to be free, I wish to take my horse and ride him through the seven Kingdoms.” You uttered the words, finally. A weight has been lifted off your shoulders.

“Do you have a name?” It was as if she completely ignored your words.

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427 notes - Posted October 22, 2022

Nectar of The Gods

A/N: I was kinda inspired by the goddess herself, Lana Del Rey. It’s not required to listen to the song Nectar of The Gods, but if you want to you can.

Summary: Your parents want power, what could be better than marrying you to the future King?

Aemond Targeryen x Reader

Word Count: 4.3k

Warnings: Angst, smut, slight Dom!Aemond, death, let me know if there’s anything else that I missed.

Tag List: @aemonds-war-crime

Masterlist

He was obnoxious, he was the first-born son of the King and you hated him with all of your heart. Your House was one of the richest of all of Westeros, so marriage proposals were coming left and right. But your parents are ambitious, they have money but now they want power. Since you are the only daughter, you are simply a political pawn being sold off to the highest bidder.

And who’s higher than the next in line to the throne, according to the greens? You were living in the Red Keep for years, and you were best friends with Haleana. There was a Prince that you were fond of already, Aemond. He was the man that you wanted to marry, he was the man of your dreams.

Aemond loves you and you love him, with all your heart. Ever since you were children you dreamed of marriage, his mother promised that the two of you would be together but no formal betrothal was initiated. But that didn't matter, he was yours and you were his. The worst day of your life was when Aemond lost his eye, you even yelled at the King for his callousness. That evening was the first time the two of you kissed, when you got older Aemond didn't take your maidenhood, you remember the day vividly.

“I want you, Aemond. Please, take me.” He was trying to control himself so much, having you in his bed begging for him was more than he could handle.

“Only on your wedding night, my love. I shall claim you as my wife, lover. The same as I have done to your heart and soul.” His hair was down, with no eye patch sapphire glimmering against the moonlight.

“I can’t wait.” The two of you slept peacefully after that, dreaming of your wedding day.

Aegon lusted after you, but he never acted on it due to the fact that he would face his brother’s wrath. You couldn’t stand being in the same room as him, he mistreated Haleana so much, but thankfully she left Kings Landing to marry a Lannister. She often sent letters, saying how happy she was, and how much her children were growing. Aegon remained unwed, the same as Aemond.

One day your parents sent a raven, saying that were coming to Kings Landing and organising your wedding to the Prince. You couldn’t be happier, you quickly ran towards Aemond’s chambers, you didn't even need to look where you were going, your feet knew where to take you.

“My love, my father wrote to me.” Aemond has never seen you so excited to receive any news from your family, you resented them so much.

“Pray tell what your detestable father has shared to put you in such high spirits?” Aemond kissed you tenderly, the only person that he truly loves flaws and all.

“They are coming to put our wedding in motion.” You jumped on him, wrapping your legs around his waist. You couldn’t be happier, you were finally going to become Aemond’s.

“That makes me happy.” Aemond whispered to you, he was a bit worried about your parents coming he didn't have a good feeling about it.

But Aemond could never crush your happiness with his worries, so he held you close and prayed to the gods that your parents would marry the two of you. You belonged together, it didn't matter if your father thought otherwise, you will be his forever.

__________________________________________

Your parents’ carriage was coming, you were next to Aemond as usual. The Queen was unusually quiet, which worried Aemond. Aegon was nowhere to be found, and that’s when Aemond knew what was happening. When he looked at you, he saw the pure happiness on your face and he couldn’t tell you. He never wanted to crush your hopes, you should have that happiness for a few more moments.

Your father and mother left the carriage, and you ran towards them. You always knew that your parents didn't like you as much as your brothers, but now all the comments, all the belittling, the name-calling, it was all worth it, you were going to marry Aemond, the love of your life.

“Father, this is the happiest occasion.” You hugged him, you didn't hug your father often but you were happy that you were finally going to become Aemond’s.

“It is satisfactory that you are grateful for your betrothal, Prince Aegon.” You stopped hugging your father immediately.

“Not Aegon father, Aemond.” You wanted to believe that your father made a mistake, an innocent mistake.

“No, you shall be Queen.” He harshly said, you couldn’t believe what he was saying.

You looked at Aemond he was just as sad as you were, but he could hide it much better than you. Turning around and fleeing to your chambers whilst your parents called for you, it was cruel so incredibly cruel. They knew how much you loved Aemond and yet, they were going to make you marry Aegon. You started to sob uncontrollably, you had no idea how long you cried, but eventually, you fell asleep.

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539 notes - Posted October 30, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

His Darling Wife

Summary: When Aemond’s lover threatens your family, you flee from your husband.

Aemond x Reader

Word Count: 3.1k

Warnings: Violence, angst.

Tag List: @aemonds-war-crime

Masterlist

You’ve been married to the Targaryen Prince for almost a year now, you’re from a smaller House in the Reach, you have three brothers, and you are the youngest. Your mother is from Pentos, her family has a fortune so now your family has a lot of influence in Westeros. When your father told you that the King and Queen wanted you to marry their youngest son you didn't know what to think. But you and Aemond were able to become fast friends and with time, to love each other.

Even with the love you feel for one another you haven’t been able to conceive, that wasn’t entirely true, you had two pregnancies that ended in short of a month, and the Maester told you that it would take a while to fall pregnant again. But he was wrong because you were now pregnant a third time. You decided not to tell the Maester or Aemond for that matter.

“My love.” Aemond spoke coming to your chambers, you were getting ready for dinner with the Queen and Princess Heleana, you adored their company and they did yours.

“Where were you, my prince?” You turned to look at Aemond, you loved calling him ‘your prince’, and he loved hearing you say it.

“My brother has requested something of me, he and Heleana are to be married and he wants me to get the best wine in all of Essos, to give her as a gift.” You looked at Aemond incredulously.

“Aegon asked you to do that?” You snickered, there wasn’t a single bone in Aegon’s body to make him so considerate.

“It was a strange phenomenon, I was talking to my brother but I could only hear my mother.” You got up from the chair you were sitting, happy with your appearance. You came closer to Aemond and put your hand on his face, he leaned into your touch.

“Then you should go, anything to make your sister happy.” Aemond smiled at your statement, he loved the fact that you loved his sister.

“I’ll return in a fortnight, maybe less.” It was his turn to kiss you and it always took your breath away, you thanked the gods every day for having Aemond as your husband.

“Come back to me, my love.” Aemond caressed your face, he never tired to look at your beauty.

“I always do.” He left your chambers and you went to meet with the Queen and the Princess.

It didn't take long to get to the Queen’s chambers, you were wearing a green dress that the Queen gifted you, it was so pretty and comfortable. Ser Criston Cole opened the doors for you, and Heleana was the first to see you, she ran to you and hugged you tightly, and you hugged her back.

“I missed you, Y/N.” She mused, you smiled at her sweetness.

“We’ve seen each other at breakfast, Heleana.”

“Still too long, come sit.” The princess dragged you and you sat down in front of Queen Alicent, even knowing that she likes you and even pushed for your marriage with Aemond, she still intimidated you, she was the Queen after all.

“How are you, Y/N? Are you excited about your mother’s visit?” Alicent reached your hand and squeezed gently, with a genuine smile on her face.

“Very, I miss her dearly.” One of your brothers was on the Kinguards as well so your mother was able to come to Kings Landing more times throughout the year.

“At what time does she arrive?” Healena inquired, she also really liked your mother. Your mother shared her fascination with spiders, the same as the Princess.

“She won’t be long, I believe at dawn.” You smiled at the Princess’ reaction, she was clapping excitingly.

The dinner was nice, you and the Queen talked about many different subjects while Heleana was playing with her animals. After a couple of hours, you retired to your chambers, you knew the nights without Aemond would be long, sleeping without him made you restless. But you were able to sleep, not well but you did. The first rays of sunshine were peeking through your window, you heard the servants entering your chambers, this part of the morning was your favourite, especially with your mother coming.

You were ready for the day when the Maester came into your chambers, it was unusual for him to appear in your chambers, but you saw a scroll in his hand.

“A raven came for you in the night, my Princess.” He bowed and gave the scroll to you.

“Thank you, Maester.” He left you with the servants after that.

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1,585 notes - Posted October 23, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #false #i love this so much

7 notes · View notes

head-empty-just-sigma · 1 year

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I'm also excited too for what we'll see in the final arc! I've seen some theories about Dazai himself being the book!? do you think that is true? Do you think it will be like a war to get hold of the book? I have so many questions…

omg i haven’t seen that theory before, but it sounds interesting! i don’t think Dazai himself is the book though, but he might be connected to it in some way. i also would be inclined to believe that part of the final arc might be an all-out ability war of some kind over the book, with all of our major characters coming together to defeat the Clock Tower perhaps? they seem to be the biggest threat considering they haven’t come into the story yet, and the story has to go somewhere after all of this Fukuchi and Fyodor/Dazai stuff. which might be hard to do in a way that’s satisfying or fitting to how much the story has built up over time (going from simple ADA vs PM, to then adding the Guild from across the world, and now powerful corrupted government figures and the Hunting Dogs, and a sword that can transcend time and space, and vampires…) and now has to potentially introduce a new antagonist after this arc is over and make it not anticlimactic after everything we’ve been experiencing since like, chapter 87-88.

#•- Inbox Answers #bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd manga #bsd spoilers #bsd manga spoilers

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thequietmanno1 · 9 months

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TheLreads, Vigilantes ch 88, Replies Part 2

1) “Yeah Rappa, we have to preserve the time-space continuum, Knuckles needs to lose a few braincells, and some of restraint, if we want to prevent this timeline from collapsing into a paradox.”- Losing his Quirk helped, but Ironically, I think this chapter implies that Rappa’s talk with him here was motivating Knuckles even during his depressed slump, getting him to go out and seek out a fight to find something worthwhile to do with his time, rather than in actual hopes of finding a lead on the Villain factory.

2) “Don’t worry Rappa, there’s plenty of stupid in his future, rest assured.

It all condensed into a guy-shaped idiot who succeeded him.

Heard he was calling himself O'Clock 2 or some shit like that “- Hey now, let’s not be too rash here. Koichi picked up plenty of dumb habits of his own from Knuckles’ tutelage.

3) “Knuckles please you weren’t made to play the straightman

but by god am I enjoying seeing you and Rappa bouncing from each other, I wanted a whole series of this “- In another timeline, perhaps. Maybe if Knuckles’ Quirk hadn’t been stolen, he could have had a hero agency of his own with rappa and Miruko underneath him, complimenting their rash fighting skills with his brains and innate desire for dumb violence.

4) “I can’t lie I am absolutely loving seeing more of rappa and the more I think back, the more I can actually see his personality on the way Knuckles behaved

Hell, even the fucking grin that knuckles always had when he started to have fun was probably Rappa’s influence.”- Rappa’s even doing Knuckle’s signature little clenched fist pose here, showing the influence he had on him. It could be said that Knuckles is intentionally basing his street janitor role on Rappa now that Knuckles has nothing else left for him but dumb mindless fighting

5) “YEAH QUICK REMINDER THAT MIRKO IS CURRENTLY A STUDENT

A STUDENT OF A HERO COURSE

AND SHE’S HERE ON A ILLEGAL FIGHTING RING, WHICH APPARENTLY ISN’T HER FIRST RODEO

HOW DID SHE NEVER GOT CAUGHT IS BEYOND ME, IT’S NOT LIKE SHE DOESN’T HAVE A RATHER NOTICEABLE QUIRK”- The perks of having showmanship and a good PR team, neither of which were available for Gentle back before he met La Brava.

6) “…

Yeah, you lost me there Mirko

Are you supposed to be a luchador or…?”- Based on a famous recurring one that shows up in various forms across numerous anime/manga, yeah.

7) “WAIT WHAT THE FUCK

WAS THAT

SHE ALREADY GOT CAUGHT

SHE GOT CAUGHT BY THE POLICE AND SHE STILL IS STUDYING TO BE A HERO?

SHE DID ALL THAT AND SHE STILL GOT TO BE A PRO HERO???

HUHHH????? “- She even kicked Ryu’s ass, which is Ironic, as from the sounds of it, she was basically doing the same thing as World Tour in street fighter 6, running around and finding masters to fight against.

8) “am i having a fucking stroke here

SHE EVEN GOT EXPELLED FROM A HERO COURSE”- Middle school actually. She’s presumably on her first hero Course, and is likely the ace of her school, so even if this incident reached their ears, the prestige of having such a future top-class hero graduating from them might have made them reconsider punishing her, given her obvious potential.

9) “Knowing her, she probably meant everyone there at the same time, she can handle you losers without much trouble”- Miruko’s here for blood, and she’s not picky who from.

10) “Yeah see what I meant?

Also I want to see that rulebook, because I doubt that there’s something written there against it. The show must go on, and is there a better show than the absolute massacre that mirko wants to unleash?”- The rulebook is incredibly thick, but filled with blank pages. Whenever somebody asks to see it, they get hit over the head with it instead.

11) “OH MY GOD I CAN’T BELIEVE ONE OF THE MEMBERS OF THE HORNY BRIGADE GOT A CAMEO ON THE MANGA, Y'ALL REALLY ARE EVERYWHERE”- I mean, Miruko does have enough animal traits to appeal to the furry fandom…

12) “but the scene of Rappa annoying Knuckles and Mirko being scolded by the fighters were both gold, and tipped the balance into the positive end. Damn you Furuhashi, now I need to say this was a great chapter just because of how good those scenes were”- Tons of AU material to be found from this arc, I believe. The adventures of the O’Clock agency would have been amazing to see, had they actually occurred

@thelreads

#my hero academia #bnha #chapter replies #thelreads #bnha vigilantes #vigilantes 88

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percontaion-points · 2 years

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Crush chapters 85-88

Click to see the rest of the snark & image descriptions

Chapter 85

“I can’t believe I’m going to defend that asshole—but his almighty quest for power has a purpose more than just feeding his ego. People don’t follow him solely because he’s got boatloads of charisma, Grace. His agenda has a thread of truth to it.”

People believed the same about Hitler.

At the last moment, he shoves me away as hard as he can, and I end up tumbling butt-first into a pile of bones, just as the colossal rib bone crashes into Jaxon and slams him to the ground hard enough to knock him out.

Chapter 85 summary: As Grace and Hudson look, they get into an argument over what Hudson did that Jaxon killed him. Jaxon tells Grace that his dad wanted to not be forced into hiding because of the potential threat of violence from humans. He was amassing an army to get rid of the humans when Hudson went out and killed all of the man-made vampires.

However, this is going against what Jaxon had told her, that Hudson was out there, gearing up to murder all of the dragons and werewolves. She’s confused, but she can tell that Hudson is telling the truth about this.

They find a bone, and as Grace grabs it, the other bones start to come to life. They all start for the exit, dodging bones that are supernaturally chucked at them. Jaxon ends up shoving Grace out of the way of a rib bone that’s too big for him to move with his powers, and it knocks him out, instead.

Chapter 86

“I could literally kiss you, Macy,” Xavier says, and I can tell my cousin has no idea how to reply…even though she is suddenly all smiles.

Chapter 86 summary: Grace runs back for Jaxon. But as the bones fall around her, they explode before they get close, so she’s never in any actual danger. How convenient. Although the narration doesn’t say as much, something tells me that it’s her gargoyle anti-magic workinghere.

She tries to remove the bone that’s keeping Jaxon trapped, but then two of the others show up and lift it off. The vampire takes off with Jaxon, while Flint and Grace fly back towards the entrance.

When they get to the other side, Jaxon is starting to come to. He’s embarrassed at having been caught off guard like that, but Grace is quick to reassure him. The others ask if all of that was for nothing, if they managed to get a bone or not. Grace had one, but she’d dropped it when Jaxon got hurt. Flint then pulls a pencil sized bone out, saying that it’s a toe bone.

Macy says that she got a portal open, so they don’t have to go back the way they’d come.

Chapter 87

And just like that, my good mood shatters. And so does Hudson’s, if the very British curses he’s tossing out are any indication…

Chapter 87 summary: The next morning, Macy and Grace dance around the room in excitement of having gotten most of the items needed. Hudson is quick to remind them that the last item (?) needed is from the “unkillable beast”, but Grace doesn’t care.

There’s this long bit about the Macy/Xavier subplot, but I don’t give a shit.

Macy then says that there’s the award ceremony later, and suddenly Grace doesn’t feel so well…

Chapter 88

Another silence, this one even longer than the one that came before it. “It’s my lair,” he answers, and there’s a lifetime in those three words.

Chapter 88 summary: Rather than to actually move the plot along, Grace instead goes down to the art room to paint. She puts the only thing that’s been on her mind, which surprises Hudson. She claims she has no memory of this place, and begs Hudson to tell her what it is. He says that it’s basically his home.

#Crave series #Crush (Crave 2)#chapter 85 #chapter 86 #chapter 87 #chapter 88 #Cyril Vega #Hudson (Crave)#Grace (Crave)#shitty leaders are shitty #jaxon vega #shitty people doing shitty things #Macy (Crave)#Flint (Crave)#random background characters are random

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0aurelion-sol0 · 4 years

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SNK keeps on being amazing. ( A rant that is not really one. )

133.

Just this panel alone is able to confirm everything that I wanted from this manga.

Eren's condition has always been what I suspected.

Ever since he sided with his brother Zeke, who manipulated Marley in attacking Eldia to retrieve the founder and other titans. Something THEY DIDN'T WANT TO DO, because they were being pressured by many other countries and were not as powerful as before due to their lack of powerful weapons like the ones in the Middle Eastern Alliance which were able to PIERCE through the fucking Armored Titan.

THIS resulted in the fucking festival and we know what happened then. Dozens of people died including children continuing the cycle of hate that has been started for god knows how long. And Eren WILLINGLY took a part in it because he wanted his actions to be a little easier while he was going to genocide the whole fucking world.

INCLUDING his own island because let's be honest when Eren is done with the Rumbling, destroying every ecosystems. EVERYTHING that keeps a planet alive, his little island won't live for long.

"The ground... It's crying." CHAPTER 131 said by one of the goddamn kids he fucking killed.

Marley is now sure, let's fucking kill all Eldians.

He did his attack on Liberio, he betrayed everyone. Crushing Hange's every possibilities of finding a peaceful way of settling things down after having been hidden MANY useful informations by Eren, Zeke and his group but also the Azumabitos.

Sparking a civil war inside Eldia, leading to an Eldian supremacist group cause let's be honest when Floch killed that Marleyan and than gave his little first king Fritz speech, it was like seeing Hitler all over again and the Klux Klux Klan.

I MEAN... FLOCH OF ALL PEOPLE! A guy who has PTSD after seing dozens of his comrades died, their faces exploded by fucking thrown rocks. He bastardized Erwin's ideologies and no matter how good willing he was, he was just a dead man walking acting like a fool.

He also betrays his own party now, the Jeagerist by allowing the very people they tried to stop the power to stop him. By activating the Rumbling, he also caused the death of Eldians inside the walls as we've been shown with Hitch.

AND THE WORST... destroy every connection he has with his friends. Hurting them, putting them in danger by the very group he created and the Titans.

Oh but that's not all...

He uses the titan the same way Marley did it, with oppression and violence. He is not stopping the cycle of hate, he is continuing it. And it will have repercussions inside the very group of people he tried to defend.

People killed each other inside the walls and they will kill each other without it. Mikasa as shown us that when her parents got murdered and she almost became a slave.

And he killed Hange with these same titans. I don't care if they sacrificed themself. He didn't live up to what he preached. They died and Hange was someone close to him and was concerned with his well being. Maybe it was too late but they also had many other priorities as Hange was commander. They also fell into depression because of their position. One of his mentors and friends, one who tried to talk with him while he was in that cell planning to destroy the world...

talking to himself...

At this point, you know where I'm going with this. We've all suspected it, we all know it. Let's not be blind about it.

Eren is influenced by the Attack Titan. Not Ymir (at least I hope so and I think so), not Kruger and certainly not Grisha.

It's pretty clear now.

I mean Eren's change happens off screen, every time we see him he is completely different from what we used to know of him.

He barely cares about his friend and don't give me the bullcrap of (hE dOeS tHiS fOr tHeM.) If he was he would have secured them and put them in a place where they wouldn't interfere, he would have tried to convince them. HE WOULD HAVE COMMANDED FLOCH NOT TO HURT THEM.

He would have not commited genocide after knowing what it led to with Reiner, Annie and Bertholt.

That's not Eren. And the stupid argument of "hE's aLwAyS bEeN vIoLeNt". That's just bullcrap and it just destroy every bit of beautiful empathy we have seen of him. With Mikasa, Armin and Historia. Levi who he respected a lot.

It just isn't coherent. Every action he does is not coherent since the timeskip.

NOW HE'S CHALLENGING HIS FRIEND ? WTF ?

I mean is no one questionning this, doesn't it seem off from what we've seen of him.

Eren is no strategist BUT... he isn't stupid. Every sane person would know that these actions will not benefit anybody.

But... they still happened.

If we look back again, here is Eren being positive trying to put Armin in a good mood.

The outside world... endless possibilities. It's a man who wonders.

Yet, AT THE RIGHT MOMENT... he has a flashback of Faye. And his face just change.

Isn't it just weird ? Like at the right moment where he can have a positive outlook on thing. NOPE.

And this has been going and going and going...

Here:

Chapter 130.

Eren arrives in Liberio what does he see.

A flashback of his mother's death

I mean it's pretty clear now.

_________________________________________

Eren has been influenced and convinced by the Attack Titan that there's no way out. He's been reliving past memories of his and others, past memories that were traumatic. It put him in a state of depression and dread through 5 FUCKING YEARS. On top of that, he is able to see the future and what he saw will happen and has happened hence his reaction to Sasha's death.

A fucking mental breakdown.

Jesus Christ, I don't know if I've ever cursed that much in my life.

It's impossible to stop what is going to happen, because what is going to happen, needs to happen.

But as we know Sasha is in the afterlife with Erwin, Hange and the others. And we have been confirmed that this is the afterlife. So we have time-travelling, afterlife, 13 years curse, people who can turn into titans, parallel dimensions and Eren who can see through birds.

But the fandom said, no, the prospect of him being manipulated by the Attack Titan is impossible even after knowing it has special abilities.

I MEAN...

Umm... This has happened before. And I saw no one complain.

So why this ?

Is impossible ?

Especially when Eren's whole arc is about questionning his perspective of the world and becoming in control of his violence and rage. Having an agency. HELLOOOO!!!????

What better way of having the main threat of that being the very thing that causes all of his problems and his powers.

Doesn't this remind anyone of anything ?

Yep. The Uprising Arc. And who ? Historia, the girl whose all life, she couldn't act as herself or have any real agency.

Yes, you know the girl whose pregnant and decided to live the rest of her life Little House On The Prairie style. ( I mean I don't think it's her but... that's what it's looking right now. )

And who is a descendent of Ymir Fritz. With too much uncanney similarities between the two.

They could have said the Founder, Eren Jeager or something else but no they said... "It's the Attack Titan."

And it's not Ymir, if she was the one to control Eren. Why wouldn't she free herself on her own if she's able to do that ?

And in 131, she was clearly in a position where she was questionning her choice.

And perhaps she probably tried to stop Eren but the Attack Titan took over him and her. Using her powers as she is the founder.

And now just like Eren, she has no eyes. She is still a slave. Why ? I thought Eren freed her. So ? This is the only logical explanation right now.

I mean when is the last time we saw Eren.

He was sleeping inside his titan in 131. Having a dream about seeing his "sight" of freedom as a kid. And also potentially watching things with birds.

It's just weird. If he was fully in control, the characters wouldn't have questionned it and none of this weird shit would be happening.

He clearly doesn't have a free will.

This requires too much energy and Eren is a normal Eldian, not one of Royal Blood. Being both in Paths, watching this " sight ", communicating, watching with birds, moving his titan which is enormous and the thousands of colossal titans is clearly hard and too dangerous for only one person to do.

Isayama has fooled us all and me in the process.

All this time, it was that goddamn thing pulling the strings. And with the help of Isayama since he is the goddamn author of this series

In chapter 88, we learn the true meaning of Shingeki No Kyojin.

The beauty of the japanese language, as confusing as it is, can be translated by Attack On Titan, at least for us american and western audiences.

( yes because as someone pointed out in the comments, it's a mistranslation but since I don't understand how to give credit by linking because I don't understand how it works, i can't credit. So you can find the person in the comments. DO NOT JUDGE ME, tumblr is not the best place to post sometimes. )

But it's not the Attack on Titan anymore.

It's the Attack Titan.

( piece of shit is it's surname. )

#shingeki no kyojin #snk #attack on titan #eren jeager #snk eren #aot spoiler #snk spoilers #aot eren #the attack titan #I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK #THIS IS WHAT I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE #EUREKA #snk 133 #aot 133 #snk chapter 133 #ymir the first #ymir fritz

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ladyorlandodream · 3 years

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Lady Dimitrescu-tag FanFiction List PART 1

Since it has become a case among gamers and non-gamers, I decided to create this post containing the FF dedicated to Alcina Dimitrescu (Lady Dimitrescu / Tall Vampire Lady) that I can find on the Internet This post will be updated as soon I find something new, therefore, feel free to send me links to add to the list and come back anytime, because from the reposts you will lose the updates!!

part 2 part 3 part 4 part 5 part 6 part 7

1) In Vino Sacrificium (Series)

2) Feast Your Eyes (short story)

3) The Woman in the White Dress (Chapters in progress)

4) Lost (short story)

5) Resident Evil Village but Awesome (short story)

6) We Are Marionettes By Strings Animated, Yet Like Lovers Of Strings Liberated (short story)

7) Village (Chapters in progress)

8) The Lady of the House (Series)

9) Intruder (short story)

10) Resident Evil: Lewd Village (short story)

11) The Surprise (short story)

12) Nothing Fucks With My Baby (Except Me) (Chapters in progress)

13) Hers, forever (short story)

14) Lady Dimitrescu and her Good Girl (Stories completed)

15) Be a good pet (short story)

16) The Lapis Inferno (Chapters completed)

17) Our secret love (short story)

18) Bad day (short story)

19) Its a superiority thing (Chapters in progress)

20) The Lady’s Kitten! (Chapters in progress)

21) her new toy (Chapters in progress)

22) Why Are Humans Like This (short story)

23) The Cold is in Her Bones (Chapters in progress)

24) Lady of Legend (short story)

25) Sweet Pet (short story)

26) Beloved bound (short story)

27) Fuck You're So Gorgeous, (And I Wanna Touch You). (short story)

28) Dessert (Chapters in progress)

29) Taken from the village (short story)

30) Resident Evil Drabbles (short stories in progress)

31) I'm Here, I'm Safe (short story)

32) For Old Times' Sake (short story)

33) Virgin Dog (short story)

34) Akaibara (Chapters in progress)

35) So This Is Love (short story)

36) Who's The Master Of Tall Now, Huh? (Chapters in progress)

37) The Mistresses New Daughter! (Chapters in progress)

38) A Willing Maiden? (short story)

39) Beloved [SCRIPT OFFER] [F4TF VARIATION] (short story to fill)

40) I trust you (short story)

41) Little Fly (short story)

42) Never Mind That Moaning In The Halls, There's No Such Thing As Ghosts (short story)

43) I know what you’re after (short story)

44) neither pink nor pale (short story)

45) what of the body isn't an unbecoming (Chapters in progress)

46) Blood and Byrrh (Chapters in progress)

47) Beginnings (Chapters in progress)

48) To Live Forever (short story)

49) Skelly Meets His Match (short story)

50) Just a toy (Chapters completed)

51) Stormy Illusions (short story)

52) I'm Falling (Don't Catch Me) (Chapters in progress)

53) Desperate Escape (short story)

54) Ignis (short story)

55) finders keepers (short story)

56) Roses Before Dawn (2 chapters story)

57) Aftertaste (short story)

58) Liar (Chapters in progress)

59) Alcina's Ultimate Form! (short story)

60) Love makes monsters of us all (Chapters in progress)

61) Cursed (Chapters completed)

62) Where It's Warm (Chapters in progress)

63) The Witch, The Werewolf And The Vampire (short story)

64) Death Trap Clad (short story)

65) Plaything (short story)

66) To become something more! (Chapters in progress)

67) Lost, but not forgotten. (Chapters in progress)

68) I Love Human Stupidity (short story)

69) Lady Dimitrescu A-Z NSFW (short list)

70) Danse Macabre (Chapters in progress)

71) Game Over! (short story)

72) A Pet That's Not You (short story)

73) The patterns of your heartbeat (Chapters in progress)

74) Survival (short story)

75) It Was A Wicked Thought (Chapters in progress)

76) Blackbird (Chapters completed)

77) How vampires are born (short story)

78) I Like My Coffee Like I Like My Women: Hot and Venti. (Chapters in progress)

79) Kiss of Blood (Chapters in progress)

80) You're Not What I Asked For (short story)

81) I walk My Days On a Wire (short story)

82) Team Dimitrescu (short story)

83) Daughter's Plaything! (short story)

84) It Starts With a Spilled Cup of Tea (Chapters completed)

85) There You Are (short story)

86) Fanfic of: "I Like My Coffee Like I Like My Women: Hot and Venti" (short story)

87) Lady Dimitrescu's new slave (short story)

88) How The Mighty Have Shrunk? (short story)

89) Lady dimitrescu x oc (Chapters in progress)

90) Novitiate (Chapters in progress)

91) No More Tears Left (short story)

92) Taming One Of the Beasts! (short story)

93) In the Shadows of the Enemy (short story)

94) Rebirth series (short stories)

95) Comfort's Embrace (short story)

96) A Maids Tale! (short story)

97) To Have Tea and Crackers (short story)

98) Me of all People!? (Chapters in progress)

99) The Tall Mistress (short story)

100) A Dance Of Death! (short story)

101) Retourne-toi! (Chapters in progress)

102) Roses, Hearts and Wine (short story)

103) Care to Dance? (Chapters in progress by me!)

104) Happy Valentine's Day (short story)

105) Share The Love? (short story)

106) Vampire (short story)

107) Between monsters (Chapters in progress)

108) Giant Woman (song/rewriting)

109) Steeplechase (short story)

110) In The Shadows (Chapters in progress)

111) What is it Worth? (Chapters in progress)

112) The positives of being a maiden (short story)

113) Young And Beautiful (short story)

114) Queenslayer (Chapters in progress)

115) Life in Castle Dimitrescu (Chapters in progress)

116) A Soak (short story)

117) Child’s Play! (Chapters in progress)

118) Forbidden (Chapters in progress)

119) The Vampire's Groom (short story)

120) Vampires Can Wear Sweaters Too (Chapters in progress)

121) Don't Cry Mercy.... (short story)

122) Hear Me Out (short story)

123) Sanguinis et Mortis (short story)

124) A Warm Bed (short story)

125) The Bite That Binds The Gift That Gives (Chapters in progress)

126) Two Hearts Beat As One! (Chapters in progress)

127) Cat Got Your Tongue? (Chapters in progress)

128) The Truth Can Make a Rose Dead (short story)

129) The Mistress's Artist (short story)

130) The Art of Submission (short story)

131) Her Name Upon My Soul (short story)

132) Mine only (short story)

133) Don’t leave me (short story)

134) The Morning Sun (short story)

135) What About What I Want? (Chapters in progress)

136) Facing the Leviathan (short story)

137) No Title (from Deviantart) (short story)

138) MILKERS: The big Smoke | Libro 1: Dimitrescu (Chapters in progress in Spanish)

139) Rolling Stone! (short story)

140) Moonlight Reflections (Chapter in progress)

141) In Sanguis Virginis Veritas (Chapters in progress)

142) Video Games? (short story)

143) Fragility (short story)

144) Pet Lessons (short story)

145) Symphony of Destruction (short story)

146) The Protectors (Chapters in progress)

147) Such A Messy Affair (short story)

148) nourishment (short story)

149) Ma Belle Evangeline (short story)

150) Big Tall Vampire Lady (Chapters in progress)

151) Plaything (Alcina Dimitrescu x Male Reader) (short story)

152) Unexpected (short story)

153) All Hallows’ Eve (Chapters in progress...by me!)

154) Affliction (Chapters in progress)

155) Adapt and Overcome (Chapters in progress)

156) So We Meet Again (short story)

157) Stole (Chapters in progress)

158) Unexpected expectancy (short story)

159) Blood Moon! (short story)

160) Under Your Spell (Chapters in progress)

161) Kitten Likes To Play! (short story)

162) A Good Servant (short story)

163) My Huntress, My Wife (short story)

164) Mother Is God In The Eyes Of A Child! (short story)

165) Memento Mori (Chapters in progress)

166) Hunter Becomes The Hunted! (Chapters in progress)

167) The One She Spared (Chapters in progress)

168) From Eden (Chapters in progress)

169) it takes a village (Chapters in progress)

170) This one time in Romania... (Chapters in progress)

171) One witch dead. One more to go. (short story)

172) Surprise Visit! (short story)

173) Falling into Darkness (Chapters in progress)

174) Finding What's Lost! (Chapters in progress)

175) Call Me Mistress (short story)

176) Burn Witch Burn (Chapters in progress)

177) Scare Tactics (Chapters in progress)

178) a one shot from tumblr (short story)

179) Recon (Chapters in progress)

180) Tea and Ice Lattes (Chapters in progress)

181) Yes, Dear (short story)

182) Use Somebody (Chapters in progress)

183) The Party (short story)

184) Dimitrescu Winter Ball (short story)

185) Learning The Hard Way (short story)

186) The Vamp & The Wolf (Chapters in progress)

187) Trust Is Worth A Thousand Words (Chapters in progress)

188) Family Portrait (short story)

189) The Long Journey Home (Chapters in progress)

190) ~Iubire nemuritoare~ (Chapters in progress)

191) A New Breed (Chapters in progress)

192) Part of the Job (short story)

193) Lingering (short story)

194) Dani’s Mom (shorto story)

195) What Do We Do With A Drunken Vampire? (short story)

196) You're Such A Royal Pain In The Fang! (short story)

197) Woman in White (short story)

198) One shot from tumblr

199) Night Light (short story)

200) The Goddess And The Vampire! (short story)

HOUSE OF DIMITRESCU FF

1) Between Thirst and Affection (short story about Daniela)

2) Series about new character Rosemary Dimitrescu: Part 1 When A Rose Blooms In Winter (Completed); Part 2 Every Rose Has It's Thorns (Completed); Part 3 A Bed of Roses (In progress)

3) Potential Bad Idea (short story about Daniela)

4) Supermarket Flowers (short story about Daniela)

5) Good Girl! (short story about Daniela)

6) Taming one of the beasts! (short story)

7) Into the Unknown (Chapters in progress, multifandom)

8) One Of the Girls (short story)

9) Can't Sleep! Won't Sleep (without you)! (short story)

10) A Mix of the Species! (short story)

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ckjbun · 3 years

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What kind of ability would Higuchi have and its potential name?

Hi to whoever is reading this! This is my first self-written post so I’m still figuring out how all this works and I’m sorry, if it gets a bit chaotic. Anyways, recently, I came across a question regarding Higuchi from Bungou Stray Dogs. It was about what Higuchi’s ability would be called and what type it would be. So I won’t go into details whether she has an ability or not. I believe she has since she is named after an author (and Asagiri himself kinda confirmed it via Twitter). Thus, I just want to write my thoughts on the potential names and kind of ability.

Since abilities in the BSD world are always named after rather well-known works of the authors, I compared some of the famous works of Higuchi Ichiyo. Now mind you, I haven’t read her works myself. I mostly relied on comparing summaries and analyses of them. Since there are not a lot of summaries, I read two lesser-known stories myself. I will add the links of the summaries/analyses of the works down below. However, while comparing I found two works that would fit Higuchi. Now, first what do I mean by “fit”? Well, it might be best to start explaining what I think about the type of Higuchi’s ability.

I believe Higuchi has not an offensive type of ability. Nothing like Atsushi’s, Akutagawa’s, Kyouka’s etc. If she had, I’m sure she would have used it already, since she’s fighting a lot with her guns, why wouldn’t she use her ability as an addition, why would she hide it? There are two possibilities why we haven’t seen her ability yet. First possibility would be that her ability is not visible like Odasaku’s or Ango’s, maybe it’s even an ability that she hasn’t even discovered, just like Fukuzawa hasn’t realized he has one before the ADA. Second would be that she can use her ability only under stringent conditions. And I believe it’s the latter, hear me out.

Remember this scene from Chapter 14? Higuchi reaches out to hold Akutagawa’s hand but then pulls back because she remembered him saying that he doesn’t need her help. Now, you could argue that holding the hands of injured loved ones is a gesture of closeness, a way to show them your support, a way to tell them that you’re staying by their side. And Aku doesn’t want this support, so that’s why she retracted her hand. But something bothers me here. In this scene it looks like Aku slapped Higuchi’s hand away, doesn’t it? And then he says, he doesn’t need her help, instead of support. I know, you could say support and help are almost the same. But to me, help is something that you do more “actively”, while support can be something passive. What if Higuchi’s hand represents this “active” help? And what would actively help Akutagawa in this very moment? A healing ability for example. Coincidentally, in the panel before, Hirotsu asks Higuchi what power she posses to make them [the black lizard] obey. Is this a hint that there is a hint about Higuchi’s ability in the next panel? Maybe. But let’s look at the next panel. It’s the title page of this chapter.

As you can see, Higuchi has a bandage wrapped around her leg and they seem connected to Akutagawa. In this chapter, it is revealed that Higuchi contemplated about leaving the Port Mafia but her reason for staying is implied to be Akutagawa. This is perfectly symbolized by the bandages in this title page. The bandages coming from Akutagawa are holding her leg back, stopping her from walking away from the PM. But maybe there is a second interpretation? If you’re looking at Akutagawa’s left hand, the bandages are starting to come off. What if this means Akutagawa is healing and doesn’t need the bandages anymore? Instead it wraps around Higuchi’s leg, restricting her movement. What if Higuchi’s ability allows her to help someone else (doesn’t have to be necessarily a healing ability) but in exchange she needs to sacrifice something? Anyways, I think she has an ability which allows her to help other people in a non-combat way. With this in mind, I was looking through several works of Higuchi Ichiyo, searching for something that “fits”. Meaning that I was looking for parallels and themes in irl Higuchi’s stories that could be “converted” into an ability. Just like the coat that the protagonist of Rashomon stole in order to now die of hunger was used as Akutagawa’s ability which seems to be able to eat everything, or like the wish that one’s brother does not die in war in Thou Shalt Not Die became Yosano’s ability and serving as a basis of her background story. Anyways, I’d like to present the works that could be used for Higuchi’s ability and draw some parallels.

1. The Thirteen’s Night

The story revolves around a poor woman, called Oseki. Thanks to her marriage to a rich man, her family was able to live a better life and her brother found a job. But on the thirteenth night of the ninth month of the lunar calendar (one of two special nights for moon viewing), Oseki visited her parents with the intention on asking her parents for approval for divorcing her husband. Before entering, she overhears her parents talking about how lucky they are that they have such good children who don’t cause trouble and that they are very thankful for this marriage. Hesitating at first, she finally goes in and admits that she wants to divorce her husband because he abuses her mentally. He insults her constantly and tells her that she's worthless, stupid, and uneducated. Her mother is outraged. But her father, even though he acknowledges her suffering, reminds her what her husband has done for this family and that she would lose her son since women couldn’t get custody of their children after a divorce at that time. Agreeing with her father, Oseki decides to go back to her husband:

“It was selfish of me to think of a divorce. You're right. If I couldn't see Tarō, there'd be no point in living. I might flee my present sorrows, but what kind of future would I have? If I could think of myself as already dead, that would solve everything… Then Tarō would have both his parents with him. It was a foolish idea I had, and I've troubled you with the whole unpleasant business. From tonight I will consider myself dead — a spirit who watches over Tarō. That way I can bear Isamu's cruelty for a hundred years to come.”

– In The Shade of Spring Leaves, translated by Robert Lyons Danly

Just like BSD Higuchi contemplates leaving the PM, the protagonist here wants to leave her husband. The PM is like the husband. It allows her to support herself and probably her family (at least we saw that she has a sister). But there is constant abuse. Akutagawa is clearly the biggest source of abuse that we can see. But it’s not only him. In Chapter 14, Mori asks her if she is really suited for this job. Telling her indirectly that she is useless or that she is too weak for the PM. Later, you can see the Black Lizard doubting her capabilities, even threatening her. But just like Oseki she stays because of a loved one. What really concerns me is Oseki saying that she will consider herself as a dead spirit watching over Tarō. What if Higuchi, in order to use her ability, has to sacrifice part of her lifespan? Or maybe she loses a feeling? Like e.g. she loses the ability to feel happiness, making her a bit more dead inside? If you draw this parallel, you could also say that when ‘consider myself dead’ is the condition of the ability, then ‘watching over Tarō’ is a hint to Higuchi’s ability. An ability that allows her to watch over and protect her loved ones? This theme fits Higuchi perfectly, since a big topic in Higuchi’s story line is how she wants to help and protect Akutagawa. So it makes sense that her ability might be something that would help him (**intensely squinting at the recent events in the manga, especially chapter 88**). Moving on to the second possibility before the pain starts to set in.

2. Takekurabe (literally: "Comparing heights", "Child's Play" in the Robert Lyons Danly translation, "Growing Up" in the Edward Seidensticker translation)

Now this is considered as Higuchi Ichiyo’s masterpiece. So the chances are high that the ability is based on this story. The story accompanies a group of children who live next to the Yoshiwara quarter. There are two rival gangs: the main street gang (’omote-machi’), lead by Shōtarō, a cultivated young boy who is the grandson of the owner of a pawnshop, and the back street gang (’yoko-chō’), lead by Chōkichi, the impulsive firefighter’s son. (Maybe a parallel to the ADA with (cultivated) Fukuzawa and the PM with Mori who’s a doctor which belongs into the same category of occupation as firefighters?). Among the main street gang, there was Midori, popular and pretty, who lives in the brothel where her sister works. Shōtarō probably has a crush on her. But Midori probably has feelings for the other main character, Nobu, the son of a Buddhist priest. Even though he returns her feelings, he distances himself from her out of his self-consciousness. Later he joins the rival gang after repeated request by Chōkichi. Anyways, they spend their days very care-free, attending school, playing with each other after school. One day, some conflict arises between the gangs and Midori, while protecting someone else, gets slapped by Chōkichi with a sandal. He then proceeds to tell her that their gang is backed by no other than Nobu. Midori feels humiliated and stops going to school. Soon she also stops playing with the other children. After some time passed, Midori is seen with her hair all done up. She has become a distant, lady-like young woman. This probably means that she got her first period and is old enough to become a prostitute or that she just had her first client as a courtesan. Little by little, the children grow up. Nobu is sent off to be trained as a priest and Shōtarō has come to accept the responsibilities of his family’s shop.

There are several themes in this story that I’d like to point out, namely unrequited love, Midori’s transformation and underlying unchangeable fates. The first one is obviously a big theme in Higuchi’s story. Midori and Nobu are unable to express their love for each other because of their positions in life. Just like Higuchi is unable to express her feelings for Akutagawa. If you want some hope, AkuHigu shippers, maybe Aku has also feelings for Higuchi but is still very confused and self-conscious about it just like Nobu. Anyways, because of their positions in the PM, it would make everything very complicated if Higuchi confessed. Additionally, Midori feels like she was humiliated by her love when she got slapped by that sandal. I’m sure that Higuchi gets humiliated by Akutagawa a lot. The next theme is Midori’s transformation from a tomboyish to a lady-like, distant woman. We all know Higuchi looks really badass in her suits. But again, look at the title page of chapter 14. Higuchi is dressed up all prettily and lady-like in a dress, and her hair is done all up. Just like Midori after her transformation. Midori’s transformation stands for Midori accepting her occupation as a prostitute even though she doesn’t want to. In this chapter, we see that Higuchi has accepted her job in the PM, even though she doesn’t want to do this job. At the end Shōtarō sings the following:

"Growing up,

she plays among the butterflies

and flowers.

But she turns sixteen,

and all she knows

is work and sorrow."

– In The Shade of Spring Leaves, translated by Robert Lyons Danly

I don’t know about you guys, but to me that necklace that Higuchi is wearing in that title page looks like a butterfly to me. This is really farfetched but maybe this could be a hint about when Higuchi joined the Port Mafia? However, the biggest theme in Takekurabe is the underlying unchangeable fate of the children. Shōtarō was destined to become the next owner of the pawnshop, Nabu was destined to become a Buddhist monk and Midori would become a prostitute. Maybe this gives us some insight into why Higuchi joined the PM? Maybe one of her parents was a PM member? I also like to think that since Aku is in the PM, since she wants to be with him, she can’t but stay in the PM, and this is her fate. Nevertheless, fate is a central theme in Takekurabe. This is the reason why I think, if the ability is based on this story, Higuchi’s ability would be something like changing fates. Changing fate of someone else but in return she must sacrifice something.

Okay, so this post has become quite long. But I still wanted to mention two other stories Yamizakura (Flowers at Dusk) and The Sound of the Koto where I saw a lot of parallels. I just want to briefly tell you the story of The Sound of the Koto. In this story a woman abandons her son in order to leave her husband who has a bad reputation. The husband then turns into an alcoholic and dies later at a party because of alcohol intoxication. The boy becomes hardened to the world, despises his mother for leaving them, and even contemplates suicide. The story shifts then to a woman playing the koto. I want to give you an excerpt for the end of this story:

“On this night the sound of the woman’s playing helped another to be reborn. Through fourteen springs and fourteen autumns, the boy had been buffeted by the rains. His heart had gradually toughened until it had become as hard as stone. No arrow could penetrate it. He seemed destined to follow the example of his father, to die among the fields or in the mountains, where his remains would be bleached by the elements. Some were convinced the boy’s life would end in prison chains, while his bad name spread to every roadside.

But now, at once, the tenderness buried in his heart was freed by the midnight strains of the koto. For the first time in many years, he felt tears come to his eyes. Or were they jewelled drops of dew? He would not exchange them for anything.

He, who had known neither love nor compassion, and who had no idea what the player of these refrains could even look like, felt a moment of happiness as the music drifted over the garden wall. […]

[…] How could a stormy wind blow now? The clouds in his heart had disappeared. Once more the woman began to play. The sound of the koto would be his friend for a hundred years, the seed for a hundred years of yearning. He had entered a world where a hundred different flowers wer in bloom.

– In The Shade of Spring Leaves, translated by Robert Lyons Danly

This boy somehow just reminds me so much of Akutagawa. Just like this boy, without any parents and home, wandering around in this world, Akutagawa has become hardened to the world. I’d like to think that Higuchi’s ability could free Akutagawa from his pain, just like the sound of koto does for this boy.

So, now I said everything I wanted to say, I guess. If there is really anyone reading this and reading this until here, thank you so much! I appreciate it very much that you kept reading even though my thoughts are probably quite chaotic. I’m sorry if there are any grammar mistakes or weird sentence structures or anything like this. English is not my first language. I’m very happy, if you could point out any mistakes or have any suggestion for improvement. Lastly, I just want to remind you that these are my thoughts, I love discussing so feel free to comment your thoughts but I’d like you to keep in mind that there is not necessarily a wrong or right, theories are theories, interpretations are interpretations. Everyone has another interpretation. They can only be proven wrong by Asagiri sensei himself. Until then just keep the discussions friendly and tolerant towards other people’s thoughts and opinions.

Sources:

All manga panels used in this post are from easygoingscans

Higuchi Ichiyo (樋口一葉)

Higuchi Ichiyo: "In the Shade of Spring Leaves"

In The Shade Of Spring Leaves: The Life Of Higuchi Ichiyo, With Nine Of Her Best Stories, translated by Robert Lyons Danly

In the Shade of Spring Leaves – Ichiyō Higuchi, Part 1

“Flowers at Dusk” and Other Notes – Ichiyō Higuchi, Part 2

“Encounters on a Dark Night” and Other Notes – Ichiyō Higuchi, Part 3

“Child’s Play” and Other Notes – Ichiyō Higuchi, Part 4

HIGUCHI ICHIYŌ: BADASS WOMEN IN JAPANESE HISTORY

The Thirteenth Night (Wikipedia)

Female Subject, Interrupted in Higuchi Ichiyō's "The Thirteenth Night"

GAME OF TRADITIONS: TRADITION IN THE THIRTEENTH NIGHT AND DIARY OF A MAD MAN

HIGUCHI ICHIYŌ IN MODERN JAPANESE AND EUROPEAN DRESS: Modern Japanese versions (gendaigoyaku) of Higuchi Ichiyō’s Takekurabe and their Relationship with English, Castilian Spanish and Catalan Translations

Separate Ways Summary

Literary Analysis of “Separate Ways”

Flowers at Dusk

Nigorie (Wikipedia)

From the Margins of Meiji Society: Space and Gender in Higuchi Ichiyō's "Troubled Waters"

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whimsicallyenchantedrose · 3 years

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Fluffy Fridays—Chapter 155: Here Comes Emma Cottontail

Pairing: Captain Swan

Summary: A series of unrelated, fluffy one shots featuring Killian Jones and Emma Swan and the relationship that makes us all swoon. Will contain both canon and AU stories. My contribution to Operation Rainbow Kisses and Unicorn Stickers (aka, my attempt to drown out the season 4 finale angst with ridiculous levels of fluff.)

Other Chapters: ( 1) (2) ( 3) ( 4) ( 5) (6) ( 7) ( 8) ( 9) ( 10) ( 11) ( 12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26) (27) (28) (29) (30) (31) (32) (33) (34) (35) (36) (37) (38) (39) (40) (41) (42) (43) (44) (45) (46) (47) (48) (49) (50) (51) (52) (53) (54) (55) (56) (57) (58) (59) (60) (61) (62) (63) (64) (65) (66) (67) (68) (69) (70) (71) (72) (73) (74) (75) (76) (77) (78) (79) (80) (81) (82) (83) (84) (85) (86) (87) (88) (89) (90) (91) (92) (93) (94) (95) (96) (97) (98) (99) (100) (101) (102) (103) (104) (105) (106) (107) (108) (109) (110) (111) (112) (113) (114) (115) (116) (117) (118) (119) (120) (121) (122) (123) (124) (125) (126) (127) (128) (129) (130) (131) (132) (133) (134) (135) (136) (137) (138) (139) (140) (141) (142) (143) (144) (145) (146) (147) (148) (149) (150) (151) (152) (153) (154) (156) (157) (158) (159) (160) (161) (162) (163) (164) (165) (166) (167) (168) (169) (170) (171) (172) (173) (174)

(ao3) (ff.net)

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A/N: There is a brief, very vague and circumspect, mention of dubious (at best) consent in the second section. This is NOT between Emma and Killian. I set off the potentially sensitive content with +++++ You can still follow the plot if you choose to skip that section.

Emma Swan had always considered herself to be a strong woman. She was tough; a total badass. She didn’t take crap from anyone, and anyone who tried to give it to her soon came to regret it. Yep. Emma was strong.

She had just one weakness. Her six-year-old son Henry. She’d do practically anything to put a smile on her kid’s face.

Which is why she now found herself standing in front of his kindergarten class wearing a ridiculous pink bunny suit a la “A Christmas Story”.

It wouldn’t be so bad if it was just Henry’s kindergarten classmates in attendance, but no. Of course that couldn’t be the case. She’d walked right into her supposed friend, Mary Margaret’s trap, and the trap had shut her fluffy white cotton behind inside before she’d even realized what was happening.

Mary Margaret, who, in addition to being her best friend, was also Henry’s kindergarten teacher, had approached her about a week ago.

“So, Emma, I’m planning to have an Easter party for the class on the last day before spring break,” Mary Margaret had said casually. Way too casually.

“Sounds like fun,” Emma said absently as she rifled through the mail she’d just grabbed from her mailbox. Mostly junk mail and bills. Fantastic.

“It will be!” Mary Margaret said excitedly, “but I don’t want it to just be my Easter party for the kids.”

In retrospect, Emma knew she should have caught the scheming way her friend said that last sentence. If she wasn’t still preoccupied with the skip that had gotten away today she probably would have. Instead she did the last thing she ever should have done. She asked Mary Margaret what she meant.

“You see,” Mary Margaret said, “kids that age love it when their parents help out around the classroom. I thought it would be fun to have some of the parents come in and help throw the party. I thought maybe you could come and join in the festivities.”

“Yeah mom!” Henry said, nearly jumping up and down in his enthusiasm. “You should do it! It would be so much fun!!”

It was the rapt look on Henry’s face that did her in. She did the last thing anyone should ever do. She agreed to the favor without asking what it would be.

This morning she’d dutifully showed up at Mary Margaret’s classroom at 7:30, just after dropping Henry off at his accustomed before-school care. Mary Margaret had been waiting for her with the pink monstrosity she now wore.

She’d balked, of course; any self-respecting person would have, but Mary Margaret had promptly dialed up the master manipulator skills to about a hundred. “Come on, Emma! What’s an Easter party without the Easter Bunny! Think about how disappointed the kids will be if the Bunny doesn’t show up? Think how disappointed Henry will be!”

Mary Margaret didn’t play fair. She didn’t play fair at all.

Emma sighed, taking hold of the bunny suit. “Fine. You got a bathroom or something I could change in?”

Mary Margaret had pointed her in the direction of the little bathroom for the kids near the classroom door.

It was only when Emma re-emerged that she realized just how badly Mary Margaret had out-flanked her. Mary Margaret was not alone. She’d been joined by three other parents--Ashley Boyd, Alex’s mom, Michael TIllman, Ava and Nicholas’s dad, and worst of all Killian Jones, Alice’s dad.

If there was any justice in the world, a rabbit hole would open up at her feet and swallow her whole.

It was suddenly abundantly clear just what Mary Margaret’s game was.

Three months ago, not long after the New Year, Mary Margaret had set her up on a blind date with Killian Jones, a single father from Henry’s class.

“I think you two will hit it off perfectly!” Mary Margaret had said. “After all, you already have one thing to talk about right off the bat--your kids! Also--and don’t tell David I said this--it doesn’t hurt that Killian Jones is one of the handsomest men I’ve ever seen.”

Emma had been more than a little skeptical, but she’d decided to humor her best friend. After all, she knew from experience that when Mary Margaret got an idea in her head she was like a dog with a bone.

She’d dutifully gone on the date. It had started well enough. (And Emma had to admit, if only to herself, that Mary Margaret had been right about Killian. The man was hot.) But in the end...well, she’d kind of freaked out, and things had gone beyond sideways by the end of the date. She’d stormed off, telling him their date (and by extension any possibility of a repeat date) was at an end.

Mary Margaret had been disappointed when she heard of the debacle that had been their blind date, but she’d been undeterred.

“Emma, that wall of yours, it may keep out pain,” she’d said, “but it also may keep out love. Trust me, love is worth it.”

But it wasn’t. Emma knew that full well. Neal Freaking Cassidy may not have done much for her--other than give her her kid, that is--but he had taught her that lesson and taught it well. Love wasn’t worth the pain that came when it all went to hell.

“Look,” Emma had said, “I know you are just trying to help me. I know you and David are ridiculously happy and you want that for me and everything, but with Killian….it’s just not gonna happen, okay?”

Mary Margaret was silent for a moment and then she asked softly. “What exactly happened on that date? Did he try to do something to you?”

“No!” Emma said, “nothing like that! He was the perfect gentleman--maybe a bit of a spicy gentleman, but a gentleman. It’s just--never mind. It didn’t work, okay? Can we drop it?”

For a moment, Emma had been afraid Mary Margaret would refuse, but in the end she’’d nodded, agreeing to drop the subject.

Emma had been naive enough to believe her best friend really had dropped it. The moment she stepped out of the kindergarten bathroom dressed in the worst bunny suit in the history of bunny suits and her eyes met Killian’s, she knew she was wrong.

Mary Margaret hadn’t given up the campaign. She’d only switched from a direct assault to a sneak attack.

“There she is!” Mary Margaret said with a huge grin. “Our own Easter Bunny, Emma Cottontail herself.”

She was going to murder her EX-best friend. Slowly.

“I must say,” Killian said with a big, teasing grin, “there aren’t many who could pull off such an ensemble, but you, Love, have done it.”

He punctuated his sentence with a ridiculous waggle of his eyebrows.

“Shut up,” she said. “You’d be singing a different tune if you were the one Mary Margaret wanted to pull this off.”

His grin turned sinful. “Trust me, darling, after the party, when we’re away from little eyes, I’d be more than happy to pull it off for you.”

Despite herself, Emma felt her face flame. She wasn’t some stupid schoolgirl. No way should a cheesy line like that make her feel the need to fan herself.

There was a quick cough from Michael TIllman, and suddenly Emma realized she and Killian were essentially flirting outrageously in front of not only Mary Margaret, but also a couple more parents.

If she survived the embarrassment that was this day it was going to be an Easter miracle. She refused to look at Mary Margaret. She had no desire to see the huge, delighted grin she knew her friend was donning.

“Shall we get started?” Mary Margaret said after a moment. “We’ve only got about twenty minutes before the kids start filterning in, so we need to make our preparations quickly.”

“Sounds good to me,” Ashley said. “Where do you want me to set up the cookie station?”

“Over there in the snack area,” Mary Margaret said, “and Mr. Tillman, how about you set up your Easter basket making station over there in arts and crafts. Now Miss Swan and Mr. Jones…”

The calculating look was back in Mary Margaret’s eyes. This could bode nothing good for Emma. Nothing good at all.

“Aye?” Killian asked.

“Perhaps you’d like to meet in the cafeteria,” she said, an extra special gleam in her eyes. “It’ll give you plenty of privacy and space to work through your song and routine...or anything else you need to work through.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Here comes Emma Cottontail

Hopping down the bunny trail

Hippity, hoppity Easter’s on its way.

There’ll be jelly beans for Henry

Colored eggs for Alex too.

Peeps for Nicholas and Ava

And for Alice a bunny will do.

Emma hated to admit it, but it was pretty clever. She hated to admit it even more, but Killian’s voice and the way he strummed his guitar--even when singing a children’s song--did things to her.

“Yeah, I guess that’ll work,” she finally said after he finished singing and looked up at her expectantly. “But that’s only five kids. What we gonna do for the others?”

“That’s what additional verses are for, love,” he said with a wink that messed with her insides.

“So what? We have to come up with new and creative verses for all twenty kids in class?”

He shrugged. “Not necessarily. Children this age love repetition and they love being singled out and acknowledged. I know my Alice will be positively over the moon with our display. Simply repeating the verse but substituting each child’s name should suffice.”

She felt her heart turn over at the obvious love and joy he displayed when talking about his daughter, and before she could think better of it, she voiced her thoughts. “You’re a really good dad, Killian.”

He positively beamed at her praise. “It’s a simple task when you have a lass as special as my little starfish. It’s been only she and I for as long as she’s been alive, and I wouldn’t trade that time with her for anything.”

In spite of herself, Emma found herself curious about Alice’s mother, what had led to Killian becoming a single dad, but it wasn’t exactly a question one just blurted out. Besides, she thought, feeling uncomfortable, her thoughts and questions were veering dangerously close to caring about Killian and what he thought and she didn’t want that.

“So you sing,” she said, clearing her throat and returning to the business at hand, “but what do I do, besides stand here and look stupid?”

His grin turned teasing. “You are, after all a bunny,” he said. “Perhaps you should hop as I sing. And a shake of that fluffy tale every now and then would not be amiss.”

She rolled her eyes, feeling the oddest impulse to laugh at his nonsense. She hated to admit it, but spending time with Killian Jones was almost fun.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” She asked.

He tucked his chin and gave her a positively sinful look from beneath hooded lids. “You have no idea.” His voice had gone all low and gravely, and her heart stuttered--actually stuttered--before beginning to race.

This day was becoming more dangerous than she could have ever imagined.

“At any rate,” Killian said, seeming to sense her discomfort and returning to a more business-like tone, “we know Miss Blanchard has a little Easter basket for each child. Perhaps the song would be the ideal time to pass them out.”

They spent the next quarter of an hour working out the remainder of the details, and then things got awkward and quiet. There was really nothing for them to do but wait for Mary Margaret to bring the kids in for the remainder of their Easter party.

“So--” Emma said, drawing out the word and searching for something more to say, something that wouldn’t make an already awkward situation even worse.

Killian apparently didn’t have the same concerns. He headed directly for the gigantic elephant in the room.

He took a deep breath and slowly let it out and then turned deliberately to face her. “What happened, Swan? What went wrong?”

“What?” she asked, heart beginning to pound again, hoping against hope they weren’t about to talk about what she was afraid they were about to talk about.

“With our date,” he said dashing all hopes she had of avoidance. “I thought it was going quite well, and then suddenly--it wasn’t.”

Emma glanced aside, feeling the pit in her stomach grow and widen. How could she possibly explain without coming across as some kind of idiot or coward? “It--was,” she finally said.

“Then why did you leave so abruptly and definitively?” He asked.

For long moments she was silent, but if she’d hoped he’d get the hint and drop it, she was disappointed. He simply sat in silence waiting for her. Part of her wanted to lash out, tell him it was none of his damned business, but another part of her, the fair-minded part, knew she at least owed him an explanation.

“Because,” she said softly, “we almost kissed.”

“Would that have been a bad thing?” he asked gently, turning his head to meet her eyes. “Did you not wish to kiss me? Surely you know I wouldn’t press you for anything you weren’t comfortable giving.”

Gods, she was making a mess of this.

“I did want to kiss you!” she said vehemently, “and that was the problem, Killian. Look, I’ve never had trouble finding--companionship--when I want it, but it’s always, I don’t know, impersonal, if that makes any sense. No feelings, just scratching an itch. But with you--I suddenly realized I liked you. I enjoyed our date, and a kiss, well it might lead to something--and I’m not talking about the physical stuff it might lead to. I’m talking relationship and commitment and all that stuff. I just...I guess I got scared.”

“Why did the possibility of a relationship with me scare you, love?” he asked softly.

“Because I’ve done the relationship thing before!” she said. “Henry’s dad was a real piece of work. Left me before he even knew I was pregnant. It was bad enough when it was just me, but now I’ve got Henry to think about, and if I brought a new man into his life and things went sideways...I don’t know. I just got scared.”

For long moments he simply looked at her, his eyes tender, and then he turned, rested his arms on his legs and stared sightlessly out at the tables of the cafeteria. “Did I ever tell you what happened with Alice’s mum?”

She didn’t know what she’d expected his response to be, but this certainly wasn’t it. “No,” she said, “what happened?”

+++++

“Eloise Gardener was obsessed with me,” he said slowly, almost dispassionately. “I didn’t share her regard, but that didn’t stop her. One night she managed to get me so drunk I barely knew my own name and then she took advantage of my inebriated state. The next morning, I was disgusted with the whole situation, and let her know in no uncertain terms that that night would not ever be repeated, but she had one more trick up her sleeve. She conceived Alice that night, hoping having a child together would bind me to her. When I made it clear that I would do everything I could to be a good father to Alice, but that there was no possibility of a relationship between Eloise and myself, she did the unthinkable.”

Emma wasn’t sure she wanted to hear what could be worse than what he’d already told her, and yet she couldn’t look away. “What was that?” she asked.

“She abandoned her,” he said, voice going hard. “Simply left our newborn daughter at my doorstep and walked away.”

“Killian--” she said, tears in her eyes for the raw agony she saw in his, “I’m so sorry.”

+++++

He turned then to look at her. “I don’t tell you all this to garner your sympathy,” he said, “but simply to let you know that you are not alone. I know what it is to endure a bad relationship--not that you could truly use that word for what Eloise and I had--and I neither wish to go through the experience again nor subject anyone else to it.”

“So...you don’t want to have a relationship with me either?” she asked. It surprised her how much the thought stung, which made no sense, of course. Shouldn’t she be happy their feelings were aligned?.

He shook his head. “That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that I can’t know if a relationship between the two of us would last. No one could know that. What I do know is that I would never ever lie to you. I would never manipulate you, and I know what it is to love a child and wish to shield that child from pain. Saving Henry and Alice from any negative fallout would be my top priority should we attempt a relationship and decide it didn’t work.”

There was only sincerity in his eyes, no tricks, no guile. He meant every word he said with every fiber of his being. “Are you saying you want us to date, like for real?” she asked, shocked at how much the idea was beginning to appeal to her.

“That hour we spent together on our blind date was one of the best hours I’ve had in years,” he said simply, reaching out to take her hand. “You and I, we understand each other, Swan. I think this could be the start of something beautiful, something that will last if we each have the courage to trust in each other. So Emma, what do you say?”

She was silent for a long moment, debating with herself, and then she suddenly surged forward, crashing into him, taking his lips with her own.

“Ew!” came twenty little voices, as Mary Margaret had apparently picked that very moment to bring her class in for the party.

Her matchmaking skills might be on point, but her timing was deplorable.

Emma pulled away from Killian, keeping her hand in his. She should feel embarrassment at being caught like this, but she simply felt too good for anything like embarrassment to break through. Smile draping her whole face, she got to her feet and faced the children.

“Who’s ready to meet the Easter Bunny?”

Notes:

--Happy Good Friday! I can’t remember if I’ve ever written an Easter fic or not--for this collection or anything else, but this idea came to me last week, and it just wouldn’t leave, so here you go. Fluffy Fridays updates two weeks in a row!

--Up next: I’m not sure yet. What would you like to read? Canon divergence? Fix it fic? Au?

NEXT CHAPTER-->

#cs ff #cs friday fluff #fluffy fridays #my fanfiction #cs au ff #cs easter fic

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achoo-tagawa · 4 years

Text

Akutagawa's Potential Response

Everytime I think about the new chapter, I always wonder what Akutagawa's response would be to Higuchi's confession if he actually heard it.

I mean that was what she was trying to do, right? Before she got bit by him instead of sharing a vulnerable moment?

Would he accept them or reject them?

You see my heart says... ' of course he loves her and they're gonna get married and be happy together bluh bluh bluh'

But my brain, who is little bit more reasonable, would notice that Akutagawa doesn't seem to have any romantic interest towards her (or anyone really) throughout the manga. There's no hints of it at all. It would be quite abrupt if he did. It's not really part of his character arc either.

But maybe that's not a bad thing.

This might be biased since I don't really ship akuhigu at all as a romantic pairing and you have every right to disagree with me.

However, I'm really happy that higuchi gained the confidence to try and tell Akutagawa her feelings. It's a step in the right direction.

It reminds me of a time when I fell in love with this girl once and I thought we were really close but I refrained from saying anything in case I break the friendship. Then a few months past by and at the first time I saw her again, I was so overwhelmed with emotion, I just sprouted out things that were kept hidden behind a door for so long. She politely rejected me and of course I was devastated but tbh our friendship is better than it ever was now because I didn't feel the urge to impress her anymore. I didn't rely on her attention all the time and began to accept the person I was.

Maybe that's what Higuchi needs as well.

If Akutagawa rejects her feelings, then that would be great opportunity to move on forward, to gain more confidence and independence for herself, not needing to be put on Akutagawa's good list all the time, just doing her best because she's absolutely brilliant when she can be.

This might be a stretch but it can link back to irl Higuchi as well. Her mentor didn't reciprocate the feelings she had for him but she used that pain of rejection, to write amazing stories and look! She ended up being one of the founding faces of Japanese Literature!

Furthermore, maybe Akutagawa would change his attitude towards Higuchi after seeing her be open with him because let's be honest, it could be better. Their whole dynamic has so much potential and I really think they could be a formidable team if there wasn't any of this unrequited love business.

Edit: Although, who knows! Maybe they do become canon.

I think we can all realise after chapter 88 dropped that Asagiri has no fecking boundaries.

I am quite cynical when it comes to romance too and though Akuhigu is really cute in a fanon sense, I genuinely don't think an actual relationship in canon will benefit these two at all. Akutagawa gets most of his development from Atsushi anyway and well Higuchi ... she would just stay the same which isn't really what I want from her.

Even if Akutagawa doesn't reciprocate the same feelings, I want him to at least notice how much she's done for him and be grateful for once for the people who generally care about him like Gin and Chuuya etc.

As Akutagawa will slowly get over Dazai, I think Higuchi should stop her obsession over Akutagawa too, ya know?

Whatever solution Asagiri thinks of for the final climax, I hope Akutagawa and higuchi's companionship changes for good because they are both amazing characters who deserve the best outcome!

But of course people are allowed to ship whoever they want and everyone is entitled to their own opinions. This is just mine.

To anyone who managed to read all of my rambling , thank you. It means a lot. I keep adding on to this so I apologise if this is very jumbled and inconsistent. I just have a lot on my mind :')

#bsd akutagawa #akutagawa #higuchi ichiyo #bsd #bungo stray dogs #bsd higuchi #i just want what's best for them #they are both so awesome and need time to shine #bsd 88 #bsd manga

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shijiujun · 3 years

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Hi! Is it okay to ask you for a small advice? I started reading Thousand Autumns recently (currently on chapters ~85-88) and I'm having a bit of a problem with Yan Wushi's character. I am so turned off by his behavior towards SQ for the whole novel up to this point and I just wonder - is it gonna get better...? I can't stand seeing him openly abusing SQ and treating him like shit, I'm sorry (1)

I know he's evil and it's expected of him to be bad but with future romance prospect I'm really struggling to like the relationship between him and SQ; and if in the first half of the novel I didn't expect big changes, now I keep hoping to see something different from him but I'm not seeing much. He keeps treating SQ horribly. I'm not sure if I can forgive him for what he's done and has no remorse whatsoever - (2)

- abusing SQ and manipulating him, using him as an experiment as if he's a toy to play with; selling him to a r*pist knowing he'll be tortured to death...! And after everything that happend I still barely see anything good in his attitude towards SQ. I can't help but think SQ deserves so much better. I suppose I should try to have some hope for the upcoming chapters to be better? Is it worth it to continue reading or nothing will change? Excuse me for writing so much, Thank you

---

Heya! Oooof okay so you’re totally valid, Yan Wushi isn’t like a character for everyone - so let me break it down with the first part and then the second part where his attitude turns for the better XD

Spoilers under the cut

Before SQ goes to save him:

Yan Wushi does have a goal which is to play mind games with Shen Qiao and (1) throw him into despair (2) try to see if Shen Qiao is a worthy opponent - sure, he’s an asshole with an agenda of his own. YWS doesn’t believe that there is any good in anyone - he thinks Shen Qiao is a hypocrite and that everyone will turn evil given the right circumstances, and so YWS doesn’t trust anyone, or even considers anyone as an equal to him.

He wants to see Shen Qiao become evil basically and does everything he can to direct him towards that but I’d say his actions (with two exceptions) fit his character and the two motives above pretty well and I’m not sure I’d count it as abuse (based on my understanding of abuse, feel free to disagree). I think it’s easy to forget that Shen Qiao is not delusional or naive or ‘innocent’, and he does not paint YWS as some saviour or a friend (at least in the beginning) - he knows who YWS is, knows that he’s insane, not compassionate, totally evil etc. even from the start the moment he realizes that YWS and his disciple lied to him.

1. He lies to Shen Qiao that he’s his shizun, and then sends him to kill someone, but he’s not there to enforce it

2. Throws him out on the streets without his memories, but Shen Qiao is anything but a weak youngling, once again, YWS doesn’t do anything to him

3. YWS turns up at the temple and has Shen Qiao read the scripture - SQ’s not sure what’s going on at first but he more or less figures it out, but also the scripture reading inadvertently helps to heal him (and YWS knows this)

4. YWS flirts with Shen Qiao for a reaction for a while, he’s not genuine of course, but Shen Qiao knows he’s not genuine

5. YWS doesn’t help Shen Qiao out when he’s faced with an opponent while he’s still injured just to see how long Shen Qiao can hold out for - but firstly, Shen Qiao never really expected him to help in the first place, because he has no delusions about the man - and YWS ends up helping anyway, of course not out of the kindness of his heart, but I don’t see why I should hold that against him XD

6. Stands by and watches as Shen Qiao and his shidi Yu Ai have their confrontation - Sure, he’s there to watch the drama, but it’s Shen Qiao who makes the decision to go with him - the lesser of two evils

7. Forces Shen Qiao to fight him while he’s still injured because he wants to see if Shen Qiao’s recovery level has reached a certain point, enough to be an adversary worth dealing with - yes, he’s forcing Shen Qiao to fight when he’s still blind and weak, but throughout the fight you realize that YWS is right - it’s that very battle that basically lets SQ recover his previous abilities by a bit. He’s not hurting SQ for the fun of it (out of sadism or shit) - he purely (or evil-ly) wants to know if SQ is every bit of the skilled warrior he’s heard about

The exceptions are these: (1) When he plants the demonic seed thing in his heart (2) When he trades SQ to Sang Jing Xing for his sword, knowing full well that SJX has a habit of sexually torturing his prisoners - I feel like YWS was almost warming up to SQ when his habit of distrust and everything kicked in and he reverted back to his cynical self - Not an excuse for what he did though, because yes Shen Qiao especially didn’t want the demonic seed thing firstly (and YWS knows this), and then he despaired at being left to SJX. This is the incident that has SQ basically give up on YWS and allows him to erase any notion of him ever becoming friends with YWS. I’m also rather curious how exactly SQ kind of like got over this - but in the settings of the book, I guess it’s explained away with (1) SQ actually fully recovering as a result of this incident (2) SQ has a big heart, and forgives YWS after - but whether or not that’s convincing, that’s up to every reader.

After SQ goes to save him:

1. So after the SJX incident - where he chose to self-destruct and die, taking SJX along with him but ended up surviving and being able to cultivate properly again from the start (previously he couldn’t because he could only recover to a certain extent as there was some blockage etc., but the blast in this incident clears the blockage) - and after he’s sort of recovered like 50-75%, he hears of an ambush on YWS by the leaders of like 5 other sects, and decides to go forward to save him

2. Not because he harbours any like delusions on YWS, but to show him that despite all YWS has done to him (especially with SJX), SQ is still SQ, and he still adheres to his own principles, that YWS did not make him change his mind about being good basically

3. YWS’s views of him starts to change because of this - YWS has never found someone with this much grit to stick to his own principles etc., to still be kind and righteous basically despite being betrayed again and again. Of course this does not excuse the fact that YWS did indeed deliberately leave him to a potentially painful death with SJX - and SQ doesn’t forget either.

4. SQ saves YWS, and then his heart melts because while YWS is recovering from the ambush, he has two other personalities that show up - so YWS when he was much younger, then YWS when he was a teenager, and YWS now. So YWS as a kid and teen are more trusting and open, and SQ likes kid YWS a lot (like as kid brother), and now-YWS wakes up occasionally from the switch in personas, he realizes that SQ likes kid-YWS and starts thinking about why SQ hates him and likes his kid self.

5. Even then, YWS still does try to jump ship once and leave SQ and other evil people behind in a dangerous cave, but thankfully teen/kid-YWS personas fight to turn up in time, and then YWS goes back for SQ

6. SQ knows this - he doesn’t think YWS has had a sudden change of heart or shit, and knows full well that if it was now-YWS, if kid-YWS didn’t turn up, he would probably be left to think about how to leave the cave on his own

7. YWS’s behaviour towards SQ does a 180 - now that he knows he cannot sway SQ, he starts to listen to SQ, and despite all the barbs on the surface, even if he disagrees with SQ’s positive outlook, he makes an effort to contribute and consider SQ’s opinion even if he doesn’t, intrinsically, believe in it. Starts putting himself in front of SQ, and of course SQ doesn’t believe this all the way to the end, where he realizes that he actually, just that tiny little bit, has started liking YWS and doesn’t want him to die.

8. Then they confirm their relationship in the extras, and YWS does do that hot-and-cold thing once so SQ figures out his feelings for him properly - It’s SQ that initiates the confirmation at the end I think

---

I think at some level, YWS cannot stand how naive Shen Qiao is, and some of the things that he’s leading Shen Qiao to think about/discover are valid - And throughout the book it’s proven true - SQ is kind to Chen Jing, but Chen Jing sells him out (not just once but thrice). He’s kind to and has always doted on Yu Ai, but Yu Ai sells him out too. The elders in his sect - some of them obviously turned to Yu Ai over him despite SQ never having given them reason to doubt him. I don’t think YWS is being deliberately cruel (or abusive) - he’s forcing SQ to look at reality, a reality that YWS sees and lives in.

He always asks Shen Qiao why he trusts others so easily, and afterwards, Shen Qiao does admit that YWS is right in this aspect - he won’t give up his ideals and how he gives everyone the benefit of the doubt, but through YWS, he realizes he needs to be able to think ahead to protect himself and the ppl around him.

Doesn’t excuse the SJX thing YWS did, and I’m sure SQ doesn’t conveniently forget about that either, but in terms of how/why they got together, I guess it’s because despite everything they do know each other best, and are soulmates (tho not only in the sugar-spice-and-everything-nice way i.e. SQ does think YWS is handsome and YWS thinks SQ is the cutest thing ever later). SQ has seen the worst of YWS, and YWS has seen the worst of him - and SQ is made to realize that what he was before was not the best path he could go on because of YWS, but he adjusts his attitude slightly and holds on to his ideals sufficiently.

On the other hand, YWS still does not believe everyone except his Ah Qiao can truly say they’re good and keep to it in every way, still thinks the worst of a lot of people if not all, but he stops to consider SQ’s POV and input now, whose opinions and every action now mean more to him than anything else ever will. Of course he has to prove himself and earn SQ’s trust back, but I guess he also doesn’t expect SQ to reciprocate, even after he developed feelings for SQ, knowing full well that he’s a mofo and SQ has every right to hate him after all he did.

They don’t fix each other, they’re not each other’s salvations, but they fit and come sort of to a truce, despite having differing views and principles.

Manipulation? Sure, but I think we forget that Shen Qiao is not a victim (except the part where he’s given to SJX) and his agency in every situation is apparent - He’s pretty clear-minded, he knows what Yan Wushi is doing, knows what his character is like, knows that he’s doing/saying things all to get a reaction out of him. He doesn’t expect YWS to help him either, because he knows YWS is here for fun and games. He doesn’t go along with YWS just because, either. He just made a wrong call by trusting that YWS reciprocated his feelings of friendship (not that it’s his fault at all), but that is certainly a moment of weakness he probably regrets.

---

In summary, I personally wasn’t all that put off by YWS’s behaviour, altho I agree the SJX incident is pretty much unforgivable. For me I read this more from the SQ perspective, because his strength shines in every moment and interaction with YWS and overshadows YWS by a lot, which is why the end makes sense to me.

In response to your question - yes YWS does get better when he’s finally totally convinced that SQ is not a hypocrite (although yeah it takes him a while to get there). And for me it’s nice to see Shen Qiao figure out himself, and also his feelings for YWS after, but also never once compromising himself for YWS.

But YWS is definitely less palatable than most other characters in danmei, so it’s natural if you dislike him and remain unconvinced! It happens XD If you hate this, I suggest you try Wu Shuang! Set in the same universe and timeline, and actually doesn’t have much angst - full on bantering between the main CP, constant veiled insults etc.

#qian qiu #asks

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pokeracer93 · 2 years

Text

I posted 264 times in 2021

32 posts created (12%)

232 posts reblogged (88%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 7.3 posts.

I added 330 tags in 2021

#pokemon - 126 posts

#metroid - 33 posts

#samus aran - 30 posts

#ash ketchum - 23 posts

#tokusatsu - 21 posts

#my hero academia - 20 posts

#bnha oc comeback - 20 posts

#kamen rider - 19 posts

#pokeani - 19 posts

#pokemon sword and shield - 19 posts

Longest Tag: 65 characters

#i’m a sucker of pkm fan kids interacting with their parents mons.

My Top Posts in 2021

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21 notes • Posted 2021-10-21 14:12:21 GMT

So heard that @dantelionwishes is doing his bnha oc comeback and his OC was looking for students for his character Sato. Hopefully I made it! If not at lest made a new OC.

Hero name: Zenkeni

Real name: Carlos Cordova

CV: Hector David jr.

Birthday: August 13

Hight: 6’0 ft (2m)

Quirk: Combat droid

Quick bio: Carlos was born and raised in Los Angels California to a quirk less family, in fact he him self was born quirk less until he was 10. A Incident involving radical nationalist who used there quirks to cause trouble for everyone. Carlos who had a desire to protect others and a unrelenting hatred for the nationalists, awakened his quirk and decimated the latter. Years after the confrontation he got word that his cousin who was living in Japan,got him in the Prestigious UA. ‘don’t ask how not even he knows’

Now ready to take on this new chapter in his Carlos is on his way to prove he got what it takes to a hero for others, now if only he remember Japanese lessons before the school year starts because his Japanese is terrible.

Carlos’s quirk allows him to be a surprisingly versatile combatant. He can shape shift his arms and legs into weapons such as swords, axes, lances,grandes,even guns and cannons and tools like sledgehammers, shovels and drills which could double as extra weapons for his already Ridiculous arsenal. His eyes could see multiple directions at once keep track and lock on speeding targets and even Potentially find a target’s week point. And his ears can pick up sensitive noises and detect oncoming threats. But despite this amazing abilities he can get agitated and stressed out to the point of exhaustion it doesn’t help that he can be ill tempered too if things go south.

25 notes • Posted 2021-07-22 05:41:19 GMT

So let me get this straight, my Eldridge abomination dragon who was responsible for the Dynamax phenomenon in Galar,the SAME dragon who can even warp the surrounding space-time when in it’s Eternamax form,Is terrified by a small,sentient wip cream?!

……………..Maybe the two heroes should have teamed up with a pair of Alcremie instead of Zacian and Zamazenta.

32 notes • Posted 2021-08-23 01:29:49 GMT

Victor @ Gloria: “Mum said it’s my to be the main character.”

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41 notes • Posted 2021-09-09 18:51:58 GMT

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42 notes • Posted 2021-07-26 03:39:27 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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jcmorrigan · 3 years

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I saw the tag- I am gonna ask you about the crossover universe- (omg I’m literally gushing about this)

OH, IT IS TIME!

So you can find a lot of this on the “What is the WHAM ARMY?” page on my blog – I’ll try to remember to link it; I’m drafting this in a word processor first so I don’t use it. Essentially, this is the universe I’ve created for my fanfic “Taking Back the Crown,” which is about…basically my favorite villains all moving into the same house and trying to take over the multiverse. And then it got lore. And more lore. Because I cannot write anything normal. The fic is nearing its 150th chapter and I’m nowhere NEAR exhausted of all the ideas I want to put in it – it’s just my big playground for hyperfixation fun. Anyway, here’s a rundown of the major points of it!

THE CAST

The main characters are the eight villains who are the founders of the WHAM ARMY. The faction name is an acronym of their first initials. They’re my ultrafaves, the villains I always get fluttery heart for, and probably the biggest collection of losers you can imagine. I’ll put them in order of the acronym and give you some background on how each entered the team.

Wuya (Xiaolin Showdown) – So the connecting factor between these people is that Mozenrath (his name is a few slots down) is their team leader and the one who decided to build a team in the first place. Wuya was recruited when Mozenrath found her puzzle box in an ancient vault. This is set post-series for XS (and Chronicles is not at all canon), so what had happened is in the big Showdown right after Raimundo was named team leader officially in the finale, the Xiaolin Monks won ALL the Shen Gong Wu to their side and stuffed Wuya in the box. So Mozenrath found her and let her out so they could be pals. A magic potion let her regain human form fairly early on, and her power isn’t even nerfed either the way Chase Young would’ve done.

Huntsman (American Dragon: Jake Long) – ADJL is also post-series in this timeline. Mozenrath has the power to resurrect people from the dead at will because he’s memorized an ancient and incredibly complex ritual that he can execute mentally (note that this means you can remove this ability from him by tampering with his memories). The Huntsman was resurrected so as to show Mozenrath around the old Huntsclan vault (which is where they found Wuya’s puzzle box). No other Huntsclan member survived the purge except Rose (and 88 and 89, but they don’t count and aren’t in this story), so the Huntsman is starting from square one.

Ayam Aghoul (Aladdin: The Animated Series): Basically just got sick of losing. He’d teamed up with a few other rando Aladdin rogues to try and pick a fight with Maleficent, and she sent him packing. So he ended up finding one of the few residents of the Seven Deserts who was powerful enough to match him AND had a similar grudge against Maleficent.

Mozenrath (Aladdin: The Animated Series): The man of the hour and the creator of the entire team. He starts the fic by crashing Maleficent’s KH Disney Villain alliance and trying to add himself to it, but…ends up being such a disrespectful nuisance that Hades just drags him straight down to the Underworld. That moment inspired him to get his OWN band of friends and start making a name for himself.

Archibald Snatcher (The Boxtrolls): Met Mozenrath in the Underworld after his death in film canon. Annoyed Hades one too many times by claiming that he wasn’t actually supposed to die, seeing as he isn’t allergic to dairy (he is), so Hades threw him in the same cell as Mozenrath and…

Roman Torchwick (RWBY): I started writing this fic in 2016, immediately post-V3, so it’s canon-divergent after the last episode of V3 (but I got all the later-game characters to show up eventually). Which means Roman is ALSO dead at the start of this fic. He ALSO comes storming up to Hades insisting he’s not even supposed to be dead. At the same time as Snatcher is already pestering him. Which is how Mozenrath, Snatcher, and Roman end up in the same jail cell in Tartarus and get the idea that maybe they should break back into the world of the living and try to build something BETTER than what any of the three had beforehand.

Mad Madam Mim (The Sword in the Stone): Mozenrath, immediately after breaking out of the Underworld, attempted to take over Arthur’s kingdom by just walking in and throwing magic around. It backfired horribly when Merlin showed up. But then Mim showed up to counter Merlin and realized that maybe she had a potential friend here who was as blackhearted as she.

Yzma (The Emperor’s New Groove): Post-TENG, no KNG or TENS (but I reference things from TENS every now and again). Merlin turned Mozenrath into a rat, so Mim brought him to Yzma’s Secret Lab to change him back. There, they found Yzma as a cat, and she so desperately wanted out of her living situation that she added herself to the team. She was also restored to human form shortly thereafter.

There is a potential ninth member of the core in the form of Vexen (Kingdom Hearts). KH is canon-divergent after DDD and basically ignores almost every game that comes out after Fragmentary Passage. Vexen, as Even, was trying to integrate into life as a hero in Radiant Garden, except everyone annoyed him way too much, so he decided to go be with people that would give right back any insults he dished out. And then realized he was much happier being on the evil team and doing mad science with no ethics. However, he will not be promoted to the upper ranks because 1. it would spoil the acronym and 2. he is unanimously agreed-upon to be the biggest wet blanket of the group and nobody wants him at the founder parties.

(Imagine my disbelief when the actual canon arc for Vexen was THE REVERSE ONE IN WHICH HE JUST DECIDES TO GO LIVE AT RADIANT GARDEN AND NOT BE ANNOYED BY ANYTHING and that’s why JC doesn’t like Kingdom Hearts III)

Anyway, this crew is a bunch of silly friends who enjoy partying, singing, dancing, drag, indulging in vices, causing mayhem, taking over cities, arranging for mass murder, piecing together smear campaigns…but they’re all pretty much ride or die for each other. And that goes double for the ships of the set: Mozenrath/Huntsman, Mim/Aghoul, Wuya/Yzma, and my favorite ship to end all favorites, Roman/Snatcher (RedHatBlackHat is the ship name).

From there, you have a B-Squad of, like, seventy other people based on my faves. Nonnie, I know you saw this because of Vincent Edgeworth, Victor Blake, and Albert Krueger, and they are three of COUNTLESS examples. It’s a found crime family that keeps getting bigger as I get more fave villains and there’s hardly a rhyme or a reason. Currently, they live in a floating fortress designed when they stole Terra Cyclonia (Storm Hawks) and hefted it out into the aether between worlds with crystal technology.

They have a rival hero faction in the form of the Cinnamons: a gathering of people who they’ve wronged who turned out to make pretty good friends themselves. While the WHAM ARMY are the villain-protag team that you feel slightly bad loving the escapades of, the Cinnamons are the rainbows, fluff, sunshine, (secret crippling depression and anxiety), and pep-talkers of the multiverse. They’re the deuteragonist team as opposed to the “villains” of the story. They also have eight “leaders,” but they were picked up a little less quickly than the WHAM ARMY founders, instead coming together over the span of a much longer quest. These people are:

Sora (Kingdom Hearts): Heart of the team and the person who pulled them all together, because Sora loves everyone. He, Riku, and Kairi witnessed the WHAM ARMY wreaking destruction on both Radiant Garden and Disney Castle, and Sora decided no one gets to treat his homes-away-from-home like that and get away with it! Between Mozenrath and the still-looming threats of Maleficent and Xehanort, he’s now collecting pals from all worlds to fight against evil and do as much good as they can do! (While having sleepovers.)

Ruby Rose (RWBY): Before she, Nora, Ren, and Jaune could get into Mistral, Sora interrupted them on their path and directed them right back around to Vale with the news that Roman Torchwick was back in action. After an incident involving the Destiny Trio and Team RNJR having to team up and actually kill the massive Grimm unleashed in the V3 endgame, they all headed out to Radiant Garden together to continue their mission.

Papyrus (Undertale): Sora found him while exploring worlds and they clicked immediately as pals. Then the WHAM ARMY, who was living in Mt. Ebott at the time, sparked an anti-monster racist sentiment through the town, and Papyrus was advised to leave the world for his own safety, so he went traveling with Sora.

Stork (Storm Hawks): Maleficent, who is also an active player in this game, made a power play by destroying the Condor with the entire Storm Hawks team onboard while they were on the Far Side of Atmos (post-series). Stork, believing himself to be the only survivor, attempted to take his own life – only for Sora to show up just in time and offer him something better: hope that his friends survived, and new friends to tag along with until they could prove either way.

Jasmine (Aladdin): The Cinnamons came looking to Agrabah for more information on Mozenrath. When Jasmine heard he was causing chaos, she decided to get personally involved.

Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender): Post-ATLA, no LoK. Sora made a trip to the Fire Nation to see if he could head off the WHAM ARMY’s latest scheme, and ran into the Gaang along the way. After helping Katara, Aang, and Zuko protect the Fire Nation from a very near miss, Sora invited them to come travel with him. Only Katara accepted at first, the other two wanting to clean things up on their homeworld.

Kazuichi Soda (DanganRonpa): Post-SDR2, no DR3. Xehanort requested Izuru Kamukura be used as a vessel, and Kazuichi went in Izuru/Hajime’s place so his buddy didn’t have to. But the first chance he got, Kazuichi turned and ran from the Castle That Never Was…where Sora had just crash-landed. Kazuichi patched up Sora’s ship, and immediately became part of his crew. (Worth noting: in this AU, the Remnants of Despair were never brainwashed and were completely aware of what they were doing. Kazuichi is basically a redemption story, trying to be a better person to make up for the hell he caused. Also, while on the Despair side, he’d hacked off his leg to sew Junko’s in its place, disabling himself – that leg goes through an arc regarding what prosthesis is in its place.)

Rapunzel (Tangled): After the Vardaros arc of S2 of Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. Rapunzel was targeted by the WHAM ARMY because she was essentially a living MacGuffin for one of their spells. Sora showed up, and Rapunzel decided to go along with him for safety AND fun, leaving Cassandra to continue the pilgrimage to the Dark Kingdom. (Wrote this before KHIII was out. And before the Evil Cass twist.)

And just like the WHAM ARMY, these folks have a huge B-squad that lives in the Radiant Garden castle and helps them deal with the various tragedies they have to clean up after. Riku, Kairi, and Jaune Arc in particular get a decent amount of stage time.

As you can see, Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty/Kingdom Hearts) and her forces are another big set of chess pieces on the board! After she sent Mozenrath to gay baby jail and it didn’t stick, she’s been trying to continue plans for domination as usual but ALSO wipe the WHAM ARMY off the face of the multiverse. She, Jafar (Aladdin), Ursula (The Little Mermaid), and Hades (Hercules) all came straight here from KH. But I’m working to model that team’s inner circle on the team in “Quite a Glittering Assemblage,” the sister fic by gavillain (it’s basically this premise but Maleficent gets a team to start instead, but similarities end there, his is a whole different, fresh, and fun flavor). I’ve just gotten all these characters intro’d instory, but the other biggies are Loki (Marvel – I based him in the Cinematic Universe but he’s kind of just an amalgamation of Lokis), Dr. Doom (Marvel), Captain Hook (Once Upon a Time), Russell Edgington (True Blood), and Fish Mooney (Gotham). Currently, they operate out of the Forbidden Mountain in the Enchanted Dominion.

There’s also a very new addition as of the 140’s chapters: the Heathens. This is a squad of villains with moral lines in the sand (and some antiheroes or corrupted heroes). Basically, these aren’t your killers for fun. These are the people who steal candy from the gas station and think they’re slick, but the point is they’re enjoying themselves so just let it happen. The four founders of this one are Harley Quinn (DC – based on The Batman but an amalgamation of Harleys that leans sympathetic), Yang Xiao Long (RWBY), Giovanni Potage (Epithet Erased), and Velvet Crowe (Tales of Berseria). Currently, they operate out of the old mansion in Twilight Town.

The Xehanorts are here, and that team is largely who you think it is – though I stripped away Vexen, Demyx, Marluxia, Larxene, and Luxord in order to replace them ALL with Xaldin. More crossover shenanigans to come on this front. This team isn’t very active – they’re waiting for the Keyblade War – but they’re operating out of the World That Never Was.

There’s also another side villain faction: the Morbians, led by Mirage (Aladdin: The Animated Series). These are the demons of fear, the stuff that lurks in your nightmares, and…the villains I really like but who I don’t quite think fit in with the WHAM ARMY or any other more prominent group. But to give you an idea of what the flavor of this team is, she’s recruited not one but TWO Boogeymen – Pitch Black (Rise of the Guardians) and Oogie Boogie (The Nightmare Before Christmas).

There will be more villain factions to come, and I kind of want to splinter the Cinnamons to multiple bases as well. Obviously it’s easier to split villains up because they’re fun to write at war with each other – when I have hero teams come up against each other, usually they end up becoming best buddies instead of fighting, and that’s how I like it, but that’s why there’s just ONE BIG HERO TEAM as opposed to the many villain squads rattling around.

THE SETTING

So as you have probably gleaned, the multiverse setup is largely based on Kingdom Hearts, which is one of my favorite things (in the KH1 through Fragmentary Passage era anyway). There are many worlds that can be visited either by Gummi Ship or Corridor of Darkness. Basically any evil-aligned sorcerer can use Corridors in this ‘verse – they’ve opened their souls to Darkness and have magic, so they can do so.

The implication is that every world represents a separate “story” or part of one. As in if it’s a work of fiction HERE, it’s a world THERE. Some characters are actually savvy enough to know they’re fictional (e.g. Megavolt from Darkwing Duck, Xayide from The Neverending Story). Most of them aren’t built to handle the news, though, and just shrug it off if told. (No, really, the cosmic order prevents them from taking that news seriously if they’re not from something that regularly leans on the fourth wall anyway.)

But sometimes, things get AU’d in without their full worlds. I was inspired by how Final Fantasy is treated in canon KH, and once I started bringing in more FF stuff by the same method, I felt motivated to do that with MORE fandoms if I felt the characters could be divorced from their settings and histories easily. I’ve done it for most Disney Channel non-animated properties as well as Satellite City (ain’t that the worst combo you’ve ever looked at). I’m planning to do it for Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn because I’m coming up on a location I want to delve into the civilization of but don’t have many canon characters for, so guess what, you get the FE cast now.

Major worlds or relevant locations in play are the Cyclonian warship, Radiant Garden, Twilight Town, and occasionally the Enchanted Dominion, but we move from plotline to plotline with journeys to many, many, MANY worlds of things I want to play with the settings and casts of. Also, the Cyclonian warship is about to get replaced with another WHAM ARMY base; we’ll get there.

THE STORY

For the first major “book” of TBTC, the WHAM ARMY has found a spell that they think will let them conquer the entire multiverse by giving them control over Kingdom Hearts itself. All they have do to is collect a bunch of MacGuffins that correspond to twelve elements: fire, water, earth, air, light, darkness, life, death, time, space, entropy, and aether. In order to do this, they visit the worlds of KH, RWBY, Avatar, Storm Hawks, Okami, Undertale, Wakfu, The Legend of Zelda, The Neverending Story, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, and many many more. The Cinnamons catch wind of what they’re doing and start assembling. Meanwhile Maleficent is on the hunt for the Book of Prophecies and starts hiring villains on her team as well. After many madcap adventures and some devastating tragedies near endgame, the Cinnamons accidentally put the Book of Prophecies in Maleficent’s hands at the same time that Maleficent finally captures Mozenrath and gets him under heel. The WHAM ARMY and Cinnamons both launch attacks on Maleficent’s forces, and each walks away with what they came for. This is also the part where we slowburn up to the four major WHAM ARMY ships and many Cinnamon ships. In the end, the WHAM ARMY actually gets all the ingredients for their spell, but what they don’t know is it will actually cause the DESTRUCTION of the worlds. So an outside force intervenes (Discord from MLPFIM, who later joins the WHAM ARMY because he wants friends who actually appreciate him as a villain and won’t make him change) to stop them, and the next thing they know, they’re starting from square one.

We’re now in the second “book” of this story. The Cinnamons are gathering up all lost friends – the rest of Team RWBY, the Gaang, the Storm Hawks (who did in fact survive the explosion), the lost KH characters. The WHAM ARMY, on the other hand, is gathering up more villains to bolster their forces for a new evil plan: to conquer the worlds one by one, starting with Atlantis (Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire) and using portals to link to other territories of interest. While the WHAM ARMY is essentially working through a to-do list of what they need before they can launch such a massive invasion, the Cinnamons are finding strength in numbers because the writing’s on the wall that between Mozenrath, Maleficent, Mirage, and Xehanort, things are going to get worse before they get better, and as evil builds, good will need to rise to protect the innocent. As for Maleficent, she’s no longer able to chase the Book of Prophecies, and so, because she’s got Hades, Loki, and Salem (RWBY) there and they’re all like “Even though we’re pretty godlike, we are not that happy with how the gods we knew have run things,” Maleficent’s new goal is to slaughter the gods of all pantheons (minus those in her care) and replace them with her allies.

Anyway, as I had said in the post you saw, Anon – I basically take everything fictional I love and shove it into this AU for daydreams because it lets me imagine my faves having CROSSOVER INTERACTIONS and doing cool epic stuff on a multi-world scale. (But as much as I’ve talked up the epic aspect, a lot of it is just…like…people fucking around and hosting karaoke nights.) Anyway, I hope this gave you a good sense of the madness, and I hope it serves as a reminder to everyone that they can and should just. Make a daydream and/or fanfic universe that’s indulgent as hell. Just do it.

#wham army #tbtc #long post #i considered a read more #but i hate the tiny text on my blog #i need a new blog theme

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agentark88 · 4 years

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Think: Chapter Forty-Four: Doku Kobura: Remnants of Obsession

My Hero Academia Fan Fiction by Agent ARK 88

Disclaimer: The following is a work of fan fiction using characters and settings from My Hero Academia/Boku no Hero Academia created by Kohei Horikoshi. I do not claim any ownership of characters present in this piece that are owned and created by Kohei Horikoshi. I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku no Hero Academia.

Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

Warnings: This work contains mild language, blood, and violence. If you are easily triggered by violent scenarios, please do not read this chapter. This chapter could be triggering to some readers.

Please be aware this chapter is in third-person perspective, following my original character, BioVirus, Doku Kobura, who is a villain currently a part of The League of Villains. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Although it’s in Kobura’s perspective, it is still a part of the current timeline of the fan fiction story Think. Next week we will be going back to Think’s perspective.

Chapter Forty-Four: Doku Kobura: Remnants of Obsession

Kobura smiled to himself. His fingers brushed the keys of his keyboard. He loved the poetic innocence of subtlety. It was her third phone in a row he so easily hacked into, but he planned on being so much gentler this time. Anna Kokoro was an angel, a porcelain doll that needed to be handled with care or she might shatter and break. He had been rougher with her in the past, and it only frightened her away from him. He would ease into the relationship for her. She deserved as much.

He was angry when he discovered her parents had ignored her message about passing the Provisional Hero License Exam. He hoped his clone had expressed how much he wanted to support her, as her parents were too foolish to understand her full potential. He felt that sending her a single message of acknowledgment was all she truly wanted, a simple congratulations.

Kobura spun around in his professional black and green gaming chair. His fingers clenched around the chair’s armrests as he looked at his wall adorned with pictures of her. How he wished so desperately to have gone to the Provisional Hero License Exam himself, to have touched her hair, to have kissed her. He wasn’t allowed to spend hours that day admiring her pictures. He had much bigger business to attend to. He had kept a close eye on Anna’s progress at UA. He knew that first years were going to be allowed to participate in the work-study program, despite concerns. It was only a matter of time until they had made the final decision. He also knew a lot of the qualifying work studies were going to be involved with investigating a drug that had been making headway in recent times. Kobura only got pieces from the web about it, careless exchanges in which one party wanted to know about another party’s involvement with a drug that would destroy someone’s quirk.

From little bits of information he picked up with social interactions, which he so hated at times, he knew that a lot of the drugs were being distributed and communicated about in an old-fashioned manner, an exchanging of papers, which was exactly why he was attempting to pursue assistance from Twice. He wanted to know more about it. He wanted to make sure that he was there for Sweet Anna’s first experiences. Kobura knew Sweet Anna wouldn’t be able to resist an opportunity to work with a mentor so she could get closer to her dream to become a Pro Hero. She would join the program, and he would finally be able to see her again.

There was only one problem with his little plan to get information from Twice, however. He wasn’t exactly in good terms with The League of Villains. Shigaraki was mad at him to Kobura’s chagrin. Kobura had disobeyed orders more than once for Sweet Anna’s sake, not that they would understand. Kobura respected Shigaraki, so he felt guilt for doing so, but he had no choice. Anna needed him. They should all have understood his intentions.

Kobura got Twice in trouble. After being told specifically that he wasn’t allowed to go to the Provisional Hero License Exam, Kobura asked Twice to make him a copy. He’d hesitated of course, but Kobura was more than convincing. Technically, he never disobeyed orders because it wasn’t actually him. Still, Shigaraki was angry, hence why Kobura was sitting in his apartment room, rather than hanging out with Toga or Twice.

Kobura picked up his phone, a sleek design he’d built himself. He hovered his slender fingers over Twice’s number, wishing so much that he was closer to him. He could tell that Twice and Toga were far closer with each other. It wasn’t that Twice didn’t like him, he just adored Toga in a way he would never achieve. He would call him Jin if he felt like it wouldn’t make him uncomfortable. He called the number.

Twice picked up almost immediately. “I shouldn’t be talking to you, Kobura. You got me in trouble. What’s up buddy? Want to hang out?”

“Sorry about the exam situation. I told you it was for a good cause. Besides, I held up my end of the bargain. Two cinnamon rolls and an upgrade to your television. I’ve got it all done. It streams illegal movies and everything.” Kobura tapped a finger against the medium sized flat screen. He didn’t need to tell Twice that he had also bugged it. It was for Twice’s safety after all, only for Kobura to keep tabs on his good friend.

“I can’t stay mad at you, but Shigaraki sure can. I should have asked for three cinnamon buns.”

“What are you up to? More recruitment?” Kobura asked, rolling his chair over to Anna’s picture-wall. His fingers grazed one of his favorites, one where she was sleeping soundly in his lap.

“Yeah, I’ve got this new lead. Can’t really discuss it though. Some dude named Kai Chisaki has been making some suspicious moves. Wanted to talk some business with Shigaraki.”

“Do you need a buddy to come with you? I’d be happy to go on a little adventure. I’m so bored here. I miss you and Toga.” Kobura leaned back in his chair, unhooking one of his knives from his jacket. He spun his chair around, flipping the knife between his fingers. He placed his legs onto the ground, frowning as he spotted the four pictures of his rivals lined up on the wall, already riddled with knife holes. He lined up the shot with his eyes, aiming for Hitoshi Shinso. He’d noticed recently that Anna’s actions online or on her phone have been with him. It left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“I don’t know, Kobura. This might be easier if I go it alone. I wouldn’t want you to get into unwanted trouble again with Shigaraki. Sure thing! Meet me at my place. I was nervous to do it by myself anyway. This new guy kind of gives me the creeps.”

Kobura snapped his wrist, releasing the blade at just the right moment. The knife sunk into the wall with a heavy thunk, right between the eyes. Kobura shifted forward, placing his elbows on his thighs as he leaned his head down with the phone still to his ear. “If the guy makes you nervous, I don’t mind tagging along. I’ll keep quiet. You won’t even know that I’m there. I’ll bring the TV too.”

“Look, if you come with me, there are some conditions. If the guy agrees to come to the new hangout, you’re not allowed to come in with us. Got it? I don’t want Shigaraki upset, seeing you there. Rules are overrated. If you’re with me, we stick together like glue. Got it? Shiggy will get over it if he sees you.”

Kobura grinned. “Twice, It’s okay. If we’ve got to go to the new hangout, I’ll stick back or get lost. I’m not looking to make Shigaraki angry or anything. I promise. You understand I had to do what I had to do for Sweet Anna, but he doesn’t, so I’ll wait for this to cool down a bit. I’m not looking to cause trouble. I just want to hang out with a friend.”

“A friend?” Twice asked. His voice seemed to rise at the end, gripping Kobura’s attention.

Kobura furrowed his eyebrows, a little caught off guard that an opposing response didn’t come right after. He paused from speaking, running a hand through his white hair, and waiting for the contradictory words to come spilling from Twice’s lips, but nothing came.

“Yes. A friend,” Kobura said softly. His fingers tightened over his phone. He had trouble holding relationships. One reason for this was because of his quirk, the other being his shitty parents. They were second-rate villains at best. Their only true relationship had been with each other, having a child wasn’t exactly something they’d planned for. They liked living life on the edge, and it caught up to them. Kobura admired their love for each other, but he hated that they weren’t more present in his own life. It was the same reason that Kobura wasn’t going out of his way to get them out of jail again. He liked the freedom, and he was sick of them pretending like he didn’t exist and then all of sudden asking for his help.

Kobura was lonely. Well, he was lonely until he met Shigaraki, Twice, and Toga. Everything simply fell into place when he met Sweet Anna. He felt like his life had finally been filled with the love he was always missing.

“Or, are you going to be a trickster?” There was the missing other half of the response that Kobura was looking for from Twice.

Kobura sighed. He stood from his seat, pushing it back and hoisting the medium television from the ground. “I’m on my way. Hang tight.”

Kobura always got a lot of looks on the street, whether if that was from his white hair or his unusual serpent-like eyes, he never could tell. There was an air about him, he knew that. He was attractive, which his parents had chalked up to good luck. He kept himself clean, polished. He’d get a lot of attention from the girls, although he didn’t pay them any mind. All he ever wanted was Sweet Anna to be looking at him.

With the television tucked under his arm, and his other hand tugging up his hood, Kobura dissolved into the crowd. When he wanted to, he could disappear almost like a shadow. It made things easier this way, like he was in control of not wanting to be closer to others rather than having to.

Twice’s building was in the shadier part of town. He lived meagerly as far as Kobura understood. Kobura had offered for Twice to come stay in his building, but he refused, saying he liked the atmosphere and didn’t want to owe him. It was a real pity because Kobura enjoyed his company, almost as much as Toga’s.

By the time Kobura came upon the right building, he could hear Twice arguing with himself from his open window. He slipped off his hood, ready to open the entrance door, until another tenant came barging out. Kobura was quick to move out of the way, just barely saving the flat screen he was carrying from being smashed.

Kobura wasn’t much for conflict. He’d rather be behind a screen trolling than in a fist fight. He wasn’t weak by any means. It was a habit of his not to interact with people if he didn’t have to so accidents didn’t happen. Before meeting Anna, Kobura wasn’t able to get close to anyone physically without worrying that he might infect them by accident. A kiss, a bite, a cut, any fluid from his body coming into contact with a stranger could cause them to lose themselves. Kobura didn’t like causing chaos for chaos’ sake. It bored him. There was no challenge in it. If Kobura’s quirk affected someone, it was over for them, too easy.

The young woman who had stumbled out of the apartment building scowled at Kobura with a haughty look. She hooded her eyes and smiled at him cruelly. Red lipstick had smudged her teeth. “Watch it, pretty boy,” she said softly. “Almost busted that handsome face of yours.”

Kobura stared at her, keeping his face emotionless. He waited for her to move out of his way, as she adjusted the front of her shirt, before pouting her lips and giving him a once over.

“You don’t look like you’re from this part of town,” she said. “You eighteen, Sweetie?”

“No,” Kobura answered.

The woman clicked her tongue, losing interest immediately. “Kids these days. All of them look like grown ass men. I’m not trying to catch a case.” She waved her hand at him, her chipped fingernails nearly flicking him in the forehead. “I would watch my wallet ‘round here, Kid. You look like you stumbled off a runway.” She lit a cigarette, before finally parting and her eyes no longer paying him any mind.

Kobura entered the building, climbing up the rotting stairs, until he reached Twice’s door. It was unlocked. He pushed it open to see Twice, staring out the window. His mask was on, but it appeared he hadn’t changed into his full suit.

“You decent?” Kobura asked, chuckling.

“I’m a criminal. Why were you hoping to see something?”

Kobura set the television down next to the old one, wiping his hands on his legs. “You’re not dressed yet? I thought we were going on a little adventure.”

“I got distracted. The voices started talking to me again.”

“Isn’t that Toga’s line?” Kobura approached Twice, careful to give him some space. He noticed that Twice had been spending a lot more time thinking lately. He’d be chatty if he was acting like himself, but recently he’d kept quiet at some of The League meetings. If something was on his mind or bothering him, he hadn’t told Kobura.

Twice’s fingers tensed around the windowsill. He knocked his head against the windowpane. Kobura frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. It wasn’t his place to intrude on Twice’s personal issues. As much as Kobura wanted to be his friend, he didn’t want to hurt him. That’s what he had always been best at after all.

“I can set up the television for you. You’ll be watching movies by sundown,” Kobura stated, attempting to change the subject.

“I can handle it. Shit, I wouldn’t know how to set up something like that.”

Kobura lifted the old television from the dust-ridden table it had been sitting on. He made quick work of the wiring, switching it over with deft fingers. Already having set up everything beforehand, all Twice needed to do was turn it on.

“Does it bother you sometimes? I don’t care what you think.”

Kobura tilted his head back. “Does what bother me?” he asked.

“Being a villain? One of the crazies? Being a hero? One of the normies?”

“Not really. I just stepped into the place that society wanted me to be in. If they want to label me a villain, that’s up to them.”

Twice finally looked over at him. His hands were holding a lit cigarette that he couldn’t smoke through his mask. If Kobura could have seen Twice’s eyes, he probably would have seen them tear up.

“Does it bother you?” Kobura asked, setting the controller on couch.

“No. I like to think I picked the right path. Who knows?” Twice shook out his arms, whistling sharply. “Sorry about the depressing crap. I’ve just been thinking lately. Toga found somebody and so did you. I should just be happy that things are going the way that they are. I’m jealous. We’re supposed to be the three musketeers, and the two of you are too good for me now.”

Kobura cracked a smile, flashing his fangs. “If you wanted a wingman, you should have just asked. Want me to hook you up on a dating site where it makes everyone swipe right on you?”

Twice shook his head, but it turned into a nod. “You’re not getting it. You couldn’t be closer to understanding me!”

Twice left the room, leaving Kobura to try to find a place he could sit without feeling like he’d be sitting in something. The one difference between Kobura and The League was cleanliness. Kobura was careful with his hygiene. In comparison, Kobura was almost certain that Dabi hadn’t taken a bath since he was a child.

Eventually, Kobura settled for the same place next to the window that he’d leaned back before. He thumbed through his phone, but Anna was less active on all of her social media platforms. Her friends at UA gave out much more information, so he’d often skim through their stories, catching a glimpse of a picture where Sweet Anna had been caught off guard. Kobura grinned, spotting a posted picture, where she was eating some sweets. He’d have to make a note to buy her some pocky the next time he was at the convenience store. He thought she’d like that.

“Ready to go? Stay here.”

Kobura turned his gaze up from his phone, noticing that Twice had finally changed into his full costume. Kobura was planning to stay in a lower profile on the mission so he opted for a black mask that would cover his mouth and nose, along with his hood.

“Lead the way.” Kobura motioned for him to leave first.

Kobura knew more about Kai Chisaki’s, or Overhaul’s, intentions before even crossing his path. A dying breed, the Yakuza were attempting to build a name for themselves again through a new distributed drug. From what he could glean from the dark web and rumors, Overhaul wanted The League of Villains for publicity, funds, manpower, etc. The Yakuza have been shadowed by villains over time, following the discovery of quirks. It was only logical they’d be coming to Twice to get to Shigaraki. To Twice, this meeting would be a normal means of recruitment that he’d set up himself, but Kobura knew the amount of planning Overhaul had done to ensure that he’d get in contact with Twice to then get in to contact with Shigaraki. He knew a bit too much in the matter. Overhaul didn’t care about causalities, and it worried him that Twice would have to go alone, so he was glad he managed to weasel his way into the meeting.

Day became night. Kobura and Twice waited in the designated meet up area. They were only a short walk from the new hideout that was reserved for meetings with possible villain candidates. Kobura wasn’t supposed to know that, as he was currently in a “timeout” from The League of Villains for his misbehavior, but he did. Kobura always knew too much. The two villains exchanged idle chatter as they waited. Kobura was relieved to finally talk to Twice again. He hated having to take a break from them.

Kobura twisted Anna’s necklace around his wrist, fidgeting with the blue expensive stone that dangled from the silver chain.

“I’m thinking about getting Sweet Anna a gift, but I’m not sure what to get her,” Kobura admitted.

Twice placed his hand under his chin, giving it an intense amount of thought. “I would get her something simple. You don’t want to scare her off with commitment. Buy her an engagement ring. She’d be crazy to say no to you.”

Kobura blushed at the thought. He’d considered marriage. The moment he discovered that Anna had been made for him, he wanted nothing more than to keep her forever by his side. Despite his desire to make their relationship eternal, he knew that Anna would believe they were too young. Her parents didn’t even know him yet.

“It’s too early for a proposal,” Kobura stated. “Flowers are too cliché.” Kobura dramatically laid his arm over his eyes. “What to do?” He sighed. What gift could you get the most beautiful girl in the world? If only Sweet Anna could tell him what she wanted, but he accepted her for her quietness. He loved how coy she was with him. She would never tell him exactly what she wanted. It just wasn’t Anna.

“Toga’s got a plushy that looks like Deku, a creepy little green rabbit. Why not get her a stuffed animal? You could always send her your severed ear. I’m sure it worked for someone desperate to appease a lover.”

“Too mundane. She’d appreciate it, but I don’t want the gift to be like anyone else’s. The ear is an interesting proposal, but it’s a bit grotesque. I’ll think it over. I can’t make the decision hastily.” Kobura leaned back stretching. “When is this guy supposed to show up anyway?”

“He’s late. It’ll be early for him if he shows up at all.”

Kobura scoffed a bit. “I don’t see what The League of Villains could use the Yakuza for, but I guess if he believes he’s got enough of a reason to search us out then it must be something big.”

“I didn’t talk about him before. How much research did you do on this guy?” Twice asked.

Kobura shut his eyes. “You were nervous. Of course I did my research.” He leaned forward, so he was close to Twice’s ear. “But, between you and me, I’ve had an eye on this guy for some time. Overhaul has been causing quite the ruckus in the villain community, despite trying to be quiet about it.”

“You know too much. You’re a great asset to the team!” Twice gave him a double thumbs up.

“I was told that there was only going to be one of you.” The voice came from the shadows. Kai Chisaki stepped out of the darkness, revealing a tall man, brown hair, yellow eyes, a collar of purple, and a mask resembling an ancient plague doctor.

“Just meeting with an old friend. I was just about to get lost,” Kobura stated.

Overhaul narrowed his eyes at him. “Unfortunate that you have to leave so soon.”

Kobura felt it. He saw it. This guy was trouble. Twice was right to be worried, which he rarely was. Kobura knew his friend trusted strangers easily. This Yakuza was up to something. The stench of betrayal lingered heavily in the air. Despite this, Kobura had no choice but to leave. If he ruined a new deal for Shigaraki, he’d probably never be allowed back. And, if he ruined this for Twice, he may not want to ever see him again.

“See you around, Twice,” Kobura said, changing the tone in his voice as a warning for him.

“Goodbye! Good riddance!”

Kobura didn’t go far. He trailed the inner sidewalk where more pedestrians lingered for cover. He’d go through the more public area to reach the warehouse that he knew The League of Villains was holed up in for meet ups, just to keep an eye out. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. It irritated him not to step in, but he was being “good” and was trying to follow orders. He hated both of those things. The reason that he kept his parents locked away was for the freedom it gave him. To be under someone’s leadership, even if it was the great Shigaraki that he knew and loved, set him off balance. He trusted Shigaraki. He liked him for taking him in less for a man of hire and more for just a misfit looking for something to do. Shigaraki could be unhinged at times, but Kobura knew he wasn’t perfect either.

Kobura positioned himself on the roof of a nearby building, keeping low so he wouldn’t be spotted. His fingers danced with a blade. He propped his head up with his hand. He didn’t expect the Yakuza to make a move against the majority of The League. It would be a death sentence for Overhaul if he tried anything. That didn’t mean that Kobura didn’t think that he’d try something anyway. As long as Kobura stayed out of the way, he didn’t see a problem with keeping an eye on things.

Twice and Overhaul entered the building without a hitch. Kobura let out a breath he was holding in. He was mostly worried that Twice could have been jumped. Just thinking about it made his blood boil. About the same time Kobura had finally decided to descend from his perch, his sharp eyesight caught movement outside the warehouse. Kobura crouched down, trying to catch it again, hoping it was a dog or a bird. As suspected, it was neither. A man, most likely one of Overhaul’s men was doing a shitty job of trying to hide himself in wait outside the building.

To hell with protocol, this was going to be an ambush. Who knew how many men would actually show in Kai Chisaki’s favor. He had a whole force of Yakuza behind him, second-rate villains or not.

Kobura pulled out his phone, calling Twice. Of course it rang once and was sent straight to voicemail.

“Shit,” Kobura breathed. The rest of The League would have silenced their phones out of respect for Shigaraki. Everyone except Toga and Dabi. And, from what Dabi had been on about before Kobura was sent away, he wouldn’t be at this meeting, and was more than happy not to see Kobura’s snake face around while he was out doing more important business.

Kobura tried Toga’s phone as he rushed down the fire escape as fast and as silently as he could. He cursed under his breath again, when it was also sent directly to voicemail. He wouldn’t be able to reach any adversaries this far away, so the only thing he had was his speed. This whole meeting was probably timed out. An ambush would be executed quickly to avoid suspicions from The League. Should negotiations not go in Chisaki’s favor, the Shie Hassaikai, Overhaul’s group, would strike.

Kobura could only watch in horror as the large bay door was broken through by a hulking member of Chisaki’s Yakuza. Kobura sprung over the rail of the fire escape without much thought. He landed awkwardly, feeling his ankle twist unnaturally. Fighting through the pain, he shot forward, sprinting across the landscape. He pulled a few knives from his person, aiming at another member of the Shie Hassaikai moving to go into the building and flicking his wrist. The blade sunk into his leg, and he yelped in pain. Kobura launched over him, using his fallen form as a springboard and breaking into the building.

Kobura skidded to a stop, when he saw that the bottom half of Magne’s body lying dead and bloody. He choked down a guttural scream. He should have been there to protect her. He should have been there to protect The League. Shigaraki and Chisaki were facing off in the center of the room, neither of which making a move. A pile of dust settled in front of Chisaki. Kobura locked eyes with Toga. Twice was helping Mr. Compress whose left arm was gone. Twice was frozen in place. His chest was rising and falling as if he were having a panic attack.

Kobura saw red. He reached into his jacket. His fingers tightened around handles to blades that he fully intended to embed in every single member of the Shie Hassaikai still standing. Overhaul appeared to be saying something, walking in Kobura’s direction, the fool. Kobura coiled his muscles, adjusting his posture.

“I said no, Kobura!” Shigaraki’s voice broke through Kobura’s rage.

The six blades between his fingers slipped free, clattering over the cement floor. Why was Shigaraki letting them walk free? They killed one of the family. They maimed another. It took everything Kobura had to let them leave. His fingers trembled and pulsed, as he tried to ground himself. Was this his fault? He knew more about the Shie Hassaikai than any of the others. He had a bad feeling about this meeting, but he still listened to orders.

“We’ll try again next time,” Chisaki’s breathy voice hit Kobura like a slap to the face.

Try what next time? Kill another person that meant something to Kobura? Upend everything that Shigaraki had worked so hard for? This man only had his own agenda on his mind. He did not care for The League of Villains. Kobura wished so desperately he had put venom on the blade that he managed to hit one of the men with because now…he couldn’t do anything now. It pained him. He clenched his skull between his fingers. Composure. He had to remember to keep his composure. Wait until the right moment to strike. There would be time. Time for revenge.

No matter how much he felt, Kobura had to keep his emotions in check. He had to stop himself from hurting people. He’d done so well. He’d calmed himself. When he got worked up like this, nothing could usually stop him. Shigaraki showed so much restraint. He deserved his respect. If he blew it now, Kobura wouldn’t be able to come back. He wouldn’t be allowed to protect Toga or Twice.

Kobura straightened. His fingers fell from his ghostly locks. His eyes were locked on the blood, the blood of his comrades. Kobura was so used to being on his own, making decisions on his own, that he didn’t think his actions could have consequences like this. He could always predict a bad situation. He could always be a step ahead of everyone else. He couldn’t control what happened to others though. He couldn’t be fast enough for them.

“Shigaraki, let me help,” Kobura said.

Shigaraki turned his eyes up to him. His fingers scratched feverishly against his neck. He paused only to glance at the retreating forms of Toga, Twice, and Mr. Compress. Mr. Compress would need immediate attention for his arm.

“Let me help make things right. I know I screwed up, but I promise you I won’t disobey your direct orders again. Don’t make me stay away. I can’t let this happen again. I won’t allow this to happen again. Not to The League of Villains.”

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